


The Chain Reaction

by Bananab_read



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Angst, I changed the title, It's a lot better, M/M, Rating May Change, Rivals, Roommates, Slow Burn, VictUuri, Viktor still skates, Yuuri does ballet, Yuuri doesn't know Viktor, viktuuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-10-19 17:53:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 31,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10645011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bananab_read/pseuds/Bananab_read
Summary: The first year of university was going well for Yuuri Katsuki.That was until he had to change roommates to someone who hates him. What else can he do except from mirror the hate?All he had to do was stick it out until Summer came along. Well he hopes.(Used to be 'I found love where it wasn't supposed to be')





	1. Lost it all to my dear anger

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic I've ever written, I've been reading them for years but I just decided to do this on a whim. Aaaaaa, I was up till 5am making sure it read well ;_; 
> 
> I like college/uni aus.. as well as rival stuff. So why not shove them together? 
> 
> First chapter is like the base, I guess you could say.
> 
> Enjoy!

Everything was going well for Yuuri Katsuki in his first year of an English Literature degree.

_Well it had been._

The last few months of the year were something of enigma, a difficult, annoying one of that.

 

It wasn’t the course itself that he had started to dislike, in fact English Literature was a passion of his, one he had a fond appreciation for. But over time, Yuuri had discovered the way he could allow his imagination to blossom through creative writing in particular, poetry also had a special place in his heart. Due to the way the shortest of sentences or stand alone words could hold so much power to morph your feelings into something new. In a way this applied to the drama scripts, but nothing was more captivating than the strings and strings of words which formed a beautiful piece of writing.

If he this was mentioned to his 10-year-old self it would have been met with a look of confusion and the topic would have no doubt been dismissed. Since the subject was mandatory, the dislike was there to begin with, but eventually he warmed up to it. Despite the love being relatively new it didn’t change the fact he was immersed in the idea of creating a world out of the simplest of words.

So no he would say that the subject was not an issue, it was in fact one other student who Yuuri now deemed it to be unfortunate to have met.

He didn’t ruin the entire experience, but the thought of the other made his blood boil.

Over the course of 19 years Yuuri has come across people who have angered him and made him dread the thought of even being near them. Being a child who has English as a second language and moving to a country and school where it’s spoken as a first was one of the occasions he stumbled across people who even to this day make him incredibly annoyed. Often making comments on how his English was not as good as theirs. Which is bizarre and idiotic of them to even make such remarks, even though they knew and were aware of the circumstances.

To Yuuri it was amusing that he had chosen to study English. The ones who had tormented him as a teen would also have found it to be laughable. At least he stuck at the subject, he is rather thankful they did not dishearten him and probably instead only encouraged him to improve and become fully fluent in the language. To the point where he wished to learn the history and of the origins.

After living most of his childhood in Japan before moving to America with his family who saw it as a fresh start and a way to finally have the hot springs business they had always desired. The business had been there in Hasetsu but it was not a booming one, and it eventually closed and both his parents ran a small restaurant which was more appealing to the population of the quaint town in which they lived. The only reason they moved was because a hot springs facility on the outskirts of New York City wanted to move the business on to owners who knew how to actually operate and manage it. Therefore his parents dragged him and his sister, Mari, to America.

Upon his arrival to New York University it has been extremely pleasant, which was surprising for Yuuri, who found it often difficult to settle in as his anxiety made situations ten times harder and over thinking everything was something that was, sadly, second nature for him. It was probably simple for Yuuri because his roommate was someone who seemed to understand him straight away.

Phichit Chulanont. He worked well alongside Yuuri’s personality, more often than not making his life more optimistic than expected. Telling Yuuri to ‘calm the fuck down’ was something that was overused by the first month. Though Yuuri didn’t mention it, he was thankful that Phichit said it so many times because he finally began to understand that sometimes issues needed to be thought through carefully, unlike Yuuri who would think it was the end of the world and become a ball of disaster in roughly 5 minutes.

Yuuri could say Phichit was his first real best friend, everybody else being a blur and not really paying much attention to the young Japanese boy. Probably due to how Yuuri would stay in during break and lunch and continually write and express his feelings he held so dear on paper.

But since he was forced to live with the Thai boy it felt as though he had actually known him his whole life.

He was unbelievably glad that the other boy was someone he could get along with, someone who would appear at a daft hour in his room, frantically pacing and fretting over an essay, to sit and talk it through. Or, in most cases, take his mind off of it with one of Phichit’s three hamsters, who Yuuri still doesn’t understand how he had managed to sneak them in. But when questioned Phichit would only look at him and laugh before saying it was his secret and that the university were quite oblivious on the day of the smuggling.

As soon as he first asked that question, Yuuri knew that Phichit studying drama for his degree was the correct choice. Despite always maintaining a cheerful and happy outlook on life, the characters Phichit often had to study or become were more the opposite. They carried a sinister feel to them, something Yuuri only saw in Phichit when he was performing or if he was hoping to carry out a plan which would end in disaster or be the greatest idea in existence.

Yuuri was more than happy with his roommate he had been given. He didn’t want to have another roommate and wanted to have Phichit as his roommate for the following year if he too was up to it.

However, everything had to change.

Of course it did.

 

 

 

During Spring break, Yuuri had received the well earned rest he deserved. For the most of it he stayed awake until ungodly hours and sleeping in until it was 12pm. It messed up his sleep schedule, but he wasn’t one to leave the house often so it didn’t bother him as much as it did his mother. She needed him to clean the onsen shower area in the morning and for most of the 2 weeks he was granted he had completely forgotten such requests and caught up on all the sleep he had missed over the course of the past few months.

Before they broke up for the short holiday, they were informed that construction work was going to take place with some of the dorms. Sadly, fo Yuuri and Phichit this had meant they had to take all of their belongings back home. The letter that had been sent to them mentioned something about faulty electrics. Not like they had not noticed, due to one of the plug sockets next to Yuuri’s bed would often trip out and made them make unplanned trips to maintenance more times than they had thought they were going to.

It was Yuuri’s fault usually. Phichit would tell him repeatedly to not use it.

He still did.

Hey, there were only four plug sockets in their dorm. If Yuuri needed to charge his phone he would have to sit in the dark, since the other working on was used by his lamp. Sure he could have turned on the main light, but that would involve getting up.

Phichit and Yuuri also had a feeling they were demolishing some rooms so they could fit more in and make more space for other students.

Neither of them expected that they would be separated when they returned.

But, unfortunately they were, and had to share with students who lived in a twin dorm on their own.

 

 

 

“Yuuri, which room are you in?” Phichit asked, peering over his shoulder to glance at the paper pinned to the bulletin board.

“Room 112, how about you?” He glanced at the Thai boy beside him. His eyebrows were furrowed as he skimmed the list of names for his own.

Phichit groaned “64, that’s nowhere near yours, it’s practically on the other side of the dormitory. I guess this means I can’t sneak in at the crack of dawn with the hams to cheer you up”

“Maybe my new roommate managed to sneak something in like you did” Yuuri nudged his friend’s shoulder playfully, before bending down to pick up his suitcase.

“Pfft, I highly doubt that. I’m the master at smuggling small furry rodents into a university, nobody else can pull that off” He grinned at Yuuri, who only laughed at his remark.

They headed for the set of stairs that lead to the rooms upstairs. Everything was adorned with glass. _Why glass?_ Yuuri wondered, though he knew the answer to that question, he thought it strange that a university that was known for wild parties decided to use it in the dorms.

_Aesthetics.. Everything usually is._

“Do you think they’ll mind?” He heard the question leave his friend’s mouth and pulled himself out of his strange thought track.

“E-eh? What? Do you think who will mind?”

“My new roommate, do you think they will mind me being shoved in with them?”

“Well, I guess I could ask the same with me. I doubt they are pleased with it, because I sure as hell wouldn’t be”

“True” Phichit mused. He chuckled and pulled his bag up the last step, resting his hand on the wall “What if it’s a rival of the sort?”

“Ahah, I hope you get that irritating blonde from your drama class” Yuuri felt his mouth curl into a teasing grin and earned a shocked expression off of the other boy.

“Yuuuuri, don’t oh my god I will bunk with you and your roommate if that’s the case”

Yuuri laughed at his reaction, knowing full well that Phichit wasn’t joking and would do anything he could to sleep in his room if that turned out to be true. How he would fit he couldn’t even imagine. The rooms were small and only had enough room to house two people. But three? That would be something interesting to see.

Yuuri adjusted his glasses, the blue rims had slipped down from the constant tugging of his suitcase up the stairs. Not like he didn’t have another flight until he reached the floor with his number room on it.

He bid goodbye to Phichit, who said if he didn’t text him as soon as he found out who his roommate was he would assume they were a murderer.

The Japanese boy continued to lug the case up the many floors. Blaming himself for putting everything, if not all of his belongings in the case. Make life simpler by using one case, his mind brought up his thoughts from hours earlier and hated himself for thinking that doing that was the best decision.

 

 

_Finally, now the room… 112? Was it? Oh god, I’m pretty sure it was._

He wheeled his case down to the door, it was shut, which made Yuuri exhale a sigh of relief. If it had been left open it would have been more awkward. He’d stand there like a fool, unsure of whether he should wait for the person to turn around or knock or talk-

_Focus Yuuri… just knock goddammit._

He brought his hand up to the door and knocked loudly three times. He swayed from side to side as the audible click of the door being unlocked and open was heard.

Yuuri pulled his gaze up from the floor and landed on the figure in front of him. A scowl was resting on the other’s features. Silver, _or was it platinum_ , tousled hair fell in front of his eye, striking blue eyes that remind Yuuri of the ocean observed him carefully, and stood out against his pale complexion. He could tell straightaway that this man knew he was beautiful, by the way he held himself. Yuuri drank in his form, he couldn’t ignore the fact that he had an interesting appearance that captivated Yuuri, even if he was scowling- _wait, why is he scowling at me?_

“What do you want?” His voice was tinged with an accent. _Russian? Obviously Eastern European._ The scowl was still worn on his features, which urged Yuuri to only match the other’s emotions and the cold tone that was present as he spoke.

“I’m your roommate?” Yuuri raised his eyebrows at the question, _did he not get informed or something?_

“Oh, for god’s sake, of course that had to be true” The other man groaned in annoyance pushing back the hair from his face. The silver strands caught the light emitted from behind the man, it was mesmerizing to watch. Yuuri pulled his gaze away from the peculiar hair colour, knowing he needed to form some sort of reply.

“How unfortunate for the both of us then” Yuuri surprised himself as he spoke, he had not expected that to leave his mouth. But it was needed, this guy was being rude for no reason, and Yuuri with his competitive urges needed to show that he was not someone to look down upon.

“ _Very_ unfortunate” He said in a lower tone “Well, I guess you might as well come in.” The other turned on his heel and walked further into the dorm room. Yuuri followed him, he was on edge now, he didn’t even know his name. He didn’t want to ask. He knew he should but despite his appealing looks he was already someone Yuuri wanted to avoid and voice his dislike for to Phichit.

Yet again he didn’t know where to place himself, he blamed his anxious mind for that. He looked around the room, it was fairly bare compared the dorm he and Phichit used to share, Yuuri thought. Their room was adorned with various posters or memories of things that they had done together or alone.

His heart ached a little and longed to return back to the comfort of his older room, as well as the comfort of someone being pleasant to him.

Yuuri looked at the two beds in front of him, it was easy enough to see which bed was being used by the other. The duvet was rumpled, and the small desk situated next to it was covered in textbooks and a few mugs.

Pulling his bag off his shoulder he moved towards the other bed, dumping the backpack as well as his suitcase.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to face the man who seemed to be burning holes into the back of his head.

_At least try to be subtle._

Even though his mind was on edge, the want to become colder and harsher was clear to Yuuri. He could feel that this man wanted to show he was better out of the pair, and Yuuri was definitely not down for that.

“So are there any rules I need to know before I step out of line?”

The other raised his eyebrows, surprise was clear to see on his face, but disappeared quickly as it was replaced with clear annoyance.

“Rules?”

“Mmm, I’m guessing someone like you has rules, I wouldn’t want to irritate you now, would I?”

“Well you appearing has already done that, but I suppose there are some rules which you should abide” Observing Yuuri carefully, he dragged his eyes across his form, before settling on his face.

Yuuri held his gaze, raising his eyebrows at the action “Enlighten me then.”

“So, rule one..” He gave him a look, and waited a few seconds. Being confused, Yuuri opted to say nothing and to not waste his breath. “This is the part where you tell me your name porosenok.”

“I would have said it when you opened the door if you weren’t so rude” Yuuri muttered, shooting him a glare “Yuuri Katsuki, and I suppose I should also know yours since I have to deal with your presence as well”

“Viktor Nikiforov” He, Viktor, whose name rang a bell, but Yuuri quickly dismissed it, responded before continuing the set of rules he unfortunately had to follow. “Rule one: Don’t touch any of my things unless I ask you to. Rule two: Don’t bring anyone back here without telling me beforehand, I will be polite enough to do this with you as well.”

_Rule two is fair enough. Phichit never brought anyone back and neither did I, but judging by Viktor’s looks he must ‘date’ quite a few people._

“Rule three: Clean up after yourself, we have to share so we shouldn’t make this place a dump”

Viktor paused, thinking of more rules to throw at Yuuri.

“Not really a rule, but, I shower in the mornings usually because I wake up early”

“That’s fine I shower at night”

“Rule four: If you don’t wake up before 9am, I’m going to be loud”

Yuuri groaned internally, he was one who went to bed as late as possible and woke up that way too. Phichit would respect his sleeping schedule and disappear to the library for a few hours, he somehow knew Viktor would hate him if he even suggested that, though he could already feel the hatred being emitted from the other.

“Rule fiv-”

“How many rules do you have?”

“Rule five” Viktor continued “If you disturb my studying I will end you”

Dramatic.

“Is that it?”

“Hmmm” Viktor broke his intense stare and went to pick up his phone, scrolling through it mindlessly “For now” he looked up again, a smirk adorning his face “Yes”

_Thank god._

“I’m off out for a few hours, I beg of you, do not destroy this place”

“Like I would” _Fuck this guy_ “Idiot” he muttered his insult under his breath, but with Viktor standing so close it was obvious he had heard him.

The intense burning stare returned, despite the insult being small, he could tell that he was displeased with the comment. He stepped into Yuuri’s personal space, and Yuuri had to will his body to stand his ground and not cower to the taller man in front of him. Viktor leaned in towards the smaller boy, he was radiating anger, but his voice was sharp, cool and contrasted with the body language he displayed.

“I don’t think there was much need for that comment Yuuri. You can already tell that you have annoyed me from the moment I opened the door and looked at you. I bet you wonder why huh?”

Yuuri did wonder, he held any words that wanted to spill out to infuriate this man further.

“Not going to answer? Well, I didn’t want a roommate, and I still don’t. I was going to calm myself down for being unreasonable, but your response just fueled my distaste porosenok”

“I didn’t expect such a reaction to the simplest of insults. I wouldn’t have thought it would have damaged your ego this much, Viktor”

_Why did I do that, I’m the idiot here for saying that._

Viktor moved closer to Yuuri, his lips near his ear “Don’t push it”. Yuuri clenched and unclenched his fists, he wouldn’t hit him, he wouldn’t stoop that low. “We may dislike, or perhaps hate, each other, but we unfortunately have to live together until Summer break” He stepped away from the Japanese boy walking towards the door. “On a lighter note, you can use that wardrobe there for your things” Viktor gave Yuuri a smile that voiced ‘If you say something again now, you will regret it’.

Viktor left.

Yuuri exhaled the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

_The next couple of months are going to be hell on earth. Everything was going well, why did I have to end up with this rude ass guy?_

He grabbed his phone from inside his backpack, quickly bringing up Phichit’s name.

 

 

**KatsukiYuuri: I actually hate him**

**PhiChu: Rly? Pfft, he can’t be that bad ;_;**

**KatsukiYuuri: He is infuriating, I swear to god I might die before summer**

**PhiChu: Lemme ring u**

 

 

Yuuri read the text and waited a few moments more before the call screen popped up. Accepting the call he held it up to his ear.

“Yuuuuri, he can’t be that bad” Phichit laughed, but somehow knew that Yuuri wouldn’t lie if he found someone to be that annoying.

“Honestly, the way he holds himself he knows that he is beautiful, with his stupid silver hair.. Who the fuck has silver hair-”

“W-wait, silver? Hangs in front of his eye and his eyes are the colour of the ocean?” Phichit sounded weirdly giddy and excited, but he was correct.

“Er.. yeah?”

“OH MY GOD YUURI! You managed to anger Viktor Nikiforov, you’ve studied here for almost a year, how the shit did you not recognise him immediately”

Phichit knew the answer to this, since Yuuri didn’t really go out much or get involved with other people here at the university, he never listened to the gossip and focused on his English Literature essays and trying to be head of the class. He didn’t notice he had competitive urges until he had arrived here, so studying constantly was natural for him.

Yuuri didn’t mind that he didn’t know who Viktor Nikiforov was… well it did a little because now he had just angered the man.

“Well, who is he anyway?” Phichit knew the gossip, so he prepared himself for the answer.

“Cliché as it sounds, he’s one of the most popular guys who studies here. He’s beautiful, and you know he is, so he has a majority of the girls here crushing on him, some guys too- but hey you can’t blame them...Maybe it’s because he’s Russian also I dunno. But you know how in those cheesy American films, the popular dudes usually come off as dumb, but damn Yuuri, he’s at the top of English Literature-” Phichit stopped himself, knowing this would anger his best friend.

He wasn’t wrong.

“He’s what?” It was becoming clearer now for Yuuri, he vaguely recalled Phichit telling him about Viktor being at the top of the course… but Yuuri had probably heard of someone else being better than him and only urged him to stay inside for days studying to become better.

“I thought you knew… well you are second.. I know that” He could hear the other trying to be gentle with his words to calm him down. “Don’t worry about being second though Yuuri. I guess now that you are rooming with him you can ask for pointers”

“We dislike each other now, so that’s impossible”

“Try and be nice to him. He’s a great guy honest. He comes into the drama studio every now and again.. Just you know, be pleasant”

“That’s going to be difficult. He was rude to me as soon as he opened the door just because he didn’t want to have a roommate. I don’t care if he’s nice.” He voiced his annoyance, pacing in the room “I’m just glad it’s only for a few months”

“Hah, imagine if you were in the same class, god that would be worse” Phichit laughed, he was trying to ease the tension and Yuuri silently thanked his friend for his efforts. “Just relax, you’ve only got like 2 months with him, and besides you’ll be spending that time studying for exams, so really you hardly have to talk to him”

This was true, he was doing a 2000 word essay on the growth and development of literature and another on a reading, which involved studying the background of the text and its social, cultural, historical and political context of it in depth. On top of that, there were more readings and lectures to go to. He knew he wouldn’t have any free time due to the amount of work he had to do over the following 8 weeks.

“You’re right. I just know that we’ll end up being rude to each other, I guess I’ll stay out of his way and I don’t know, avoid all contact with him?”

“Aaha, there we go, perfect. I gotta dash now Yuuri, I still haven’t told my roommate about the hamsters, so I gotta break the news.”

The line went dead, and Yuuri tossed his phone on his bed. He begun the tedious task which was unpacking his clothing and other belongings. Quickly he hung them up and organised his things, not wanting Viktor to walk in and comment on anything.

He found the Russian to be peculiar, he wasn’t keen on the man and the way he was unpleasant without Yuuri even opening his mouth. The way he glared and observed him with some form of disgust, all because he didn’t to have a roommate, it was ridiculous. There was obviously something else that bothered him, but Yuuri sure as hell was not going to ask him anything about it. He knew Viktor found himself to be superior to a degree, if he didn’t then Yuuri would be surprised since all Viktor voiced was dominance. Maybe it was due to his status in the university. If so many people desired him then perhaps he just came off that way since he needed to be like that.

 _Or he’s just a shit_. Yuuri didn’t care either way, his good looks were infuriating and the way he wasn’t afraid to step into Yuuri’s personal space to give a warning was irritating as well as uncalled for. Then again he knew he didn’t have to retort.

He had no idea how he could act around Viktor, it immediately felt as though he walking on eggshells. Since Viktor was also an English Literature student he didn’t want to say something stupid on the topic if it was ever brought up. He was intelligent yes, but making himself look unintelligent in front of the guy who was now top of the subject would be a bad move. Yuuri could only think of Viktor using anything daft he voiced against him.

That thought made him groan internally. He didn’t want to encourage the man.

He could manage.

He could deal with this roommate for 2 months. It’s not like he couldn’t see Phichit. He wasn’t confined to this space, so he could study in the library or empty classrooms, like he used to do when Phichit was practicing his lines.

Yuuri, laid down on the bed, he was exhausted. It’s not like he had done much today but becoming worked up and stressing about made him mentally tired. He missed the easiness he used to have, and he longed for it to return.

Picking up a book, he begun the long process of reading it through before he had to re-read and make analytical comments on everything.

 

A faint thud echoed throughout the room startling the Japanese boy out of his sleep. He sat up quickly realising his book had slipped off of his bed and on the floor.

_Dammit, I knew I shouldn’t have laid down._

Thankfully for Yuuri, Viktor had not returned yet, and prayed he wouldn’t until later. Besides it was only 4pm. If he was to come back he room would probably be empty since Yuuri knew he couldn’t go all day without food.

Should he buy something to ease the tension? Nah. No point, he didn’t know what Viktor liked and he didn’t want to waste his time looking for something if it could go to waste.

  
Standing up, he stretched. His bones clicked out from the awkward position he was laid in. He moved to bathroom, Yuuri knew he should probably shower now and not later and then go out to eat. He wondered if Phichit was up for something, he knew he’d probably be talking and getting to know his new roommate. But it didn’t hurt to ask and he needed the company after spending those minutes with the Russian.

 

 

**KatsukiYuuri: Are you up for food?**

**PhiChu: Yh, mind if I bring my roommate?**

**KatsukiYuuri: Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll meet you outside of that pizzeria we used to go to? Say 5pm?**

**PhiChu: Ok!**

It gave him enough time to shower and look remotely decent.

 

 

 

The hot water was relaxing, the powerful jets of water soothed his body and took away any thoughts he had before. The only thing that was on his mind was the sensation the water was on his body. It caressed his skin, despite the ferocious setting he had it on. The water swam down his skin, undoing knots and tensions in his muscles.

He could happily stay here for hours on end and not go out and eat. Although he would regret that later and he was actually hungry, though originally he only wanted to go out to see someone who cared for him. If Phichit was bringing his roommate it would only suggest that he got along well enough with him for them to want to eat out. Then again, he may have gotten lucky and been placed with someone who he talks to already. It was probably that to be honest.

Even though Yuuri was best friends with the social butterfly that was Phichit, he didn’t get out much and really he was his only friend. He obviously has acquaintances in his English Literature class, but not people who he actually wished to hang out with.

He had not bothered to take his clothes into the bathroom with him, somehow trusting that the other man would not return. Thankfully, he was correct.

Embarrassment flushed across his features at the thought of how awkward it would have been if he was there. He would probably would have squeaked out an apology despite being angry at him before.

He wasn’t overall confident about his body, or looks for that matter. He was average, he had some muscle definition but it wasn’t anything major, he took ballet and had done since he was a child.  
Though his love for literature was indeed his passion, he did need another creative outlet and ballet seemed to tick that box.

Yuuri was glad that he had carried on with ballet, he knew that in the second year of university he needed to pick a side course to study, ballet was an option and he would just choose that to save the hassle of studying something he disliked.

As a child, he recalled the constant bullying, that he shouldn’t do ballet due to it being more of female sport. At one point he was tempted to quit and drop the sport altogether because he couldn’t be bothered hearing such comments and distaste for him. He was saved by his ballet teacher Minako Okukawa. She understood that he needed to express himself through dance and encouraged him to carry on. Being a former ballerina herself, she knew what Yuuri needed to do to become good at the sport and even spoke to teachers in America to teach Yuuri before he had left Japan.

He missed the woman sometimes, despite her enjoyment for alcohol she was someone he liked to talk to. He had not seen her for a year or so, sometimes he wished could still be taught by her but she had to run her snack bar back in Hasetsu. She would have wanted to join Yuuri and his family here, but Japan was her home and something she didn’t want to leave behind, which was understandable.

Toying with a t-shirt he pulled it over his head, ignoring the dripping water falling from his hair. He would blow dry it if he could be bothered, but he knew that the heat outside would probably dry it for him.

_I know I can’t just leave the towel on the floor.. Which rule number was it again? Rule 3? Eh, who knew. All I know is that he’d end me if I didn’t clean up. I hardly know him and I’m just making that assumption._

He shifted from one foot to the other, before deciding to just leave his wet towel on the bed. Yuuri would have to ask him for directions to this dormitories laundry room. Since he was on the opposite side of the dormitory before he had never come over to this part. Well he had never needed to.

Yuuri does recall it taking him and Phichit a good half hour hunting before finding it.

 

 

4:45pm

He’d be late if he didn’t set off now, all because he was lost in thought.

 

 

Yuuri could see Phichit in the distance with another guy, who Yuuri presumes is Phichit’s roommate. He was glad that Phichit had arrived first, it made things easier for him.

“Yuuuuri” Phichit called and held the pizzeria door open for him “This is Guang Hong, I got lucky with my roommate, he’s in my drama class. I’m pretty sure I must have mentioned him before but I can’t remember”

Yuuri and him exchanged greetings. They sat on a booth by the window in the pizzeria, mainly due to the heat from outside and the need to keep cool.

“So, no more confrontations with your new roommate” His friend smirked, finding the situation rather amusing, Yuuri gave him a playful glare, knowing Phichit was going to have fun with this.

“Thankfully, no. He hasn’t returned since he left after I called him an idiot”

Guang Hong choked on his drink, looking at Yuuri in disbelief “You called Viktor Nikiforov an idiot?...I mean it’s not the worst insult ever, but I don’t know, after Phichit described you I wouldn’t have expected you to do that”

Yuuri raised his eyebrows and looked over at the other boy again “How did you describe me?”

“I-er.. might have said you’re a ball of stress and anxiety”

“To be precise, you said ‘He’s a ball of stress and anxiety who will avoid confrontation like the plague’” Guang Hong bit down his laughter by taking another sip of his drink.

“PHICHIT! I mean you’re not wrong.. But hey I can be cold and competitive if needed” He slapped him on the arm “I’m not that bad”

“Pfft, sure sure”

“Phichit said you’re not too keen on him, he’s a really great guy, well he has been when we’ve spoken to him”

“Not too keen? I spoke to him for about 10 minutes and I already regret that. He opened the door and radiated anger, I’m pretty sure by now the feeling is mutual” He explained to Guang Hong, he seemed to have a great interest in Viktor, he’s probably not a dick to everyone then.

“You could just start talking to him normally” The Chinese boy offered, playing with the straw in his bottle.

“I could. I don’t know yet, I’d have to talk to him again. Hopefully that won’t be soon.” He sighed, resting his head against his folded arms

“Pizza for Phichit Chulanont” Phichit got up eagerly to retrieve the pizza from the counter.

Yuuri lifted his head after a few moments, Phichit had stopped with the pizza in hand, he was talking to someone, Yuuri couldn’t see who, but he knew he was laughing with them. Shrugging he looked outside the window observing the other students walking past.

This pizzeria was a popular one for the university students, mainly because it was cheaper compared to other places and offered quite a lot, for a decent price. It had the a warm homely feeling to it, which made most if not all the customers feel safe and at ease. For Yuuri, this place was full of fond memories with Phichit, it wasn’t the homeliest restaurant for Yuuri. It was probably the Japanese restaurant a few streets away. Pricy, but if he was here on his own in America, that place would be the nicest to spend his hours and the majority of his day.

Phichit returned, he placed the pizza down in front of Yuuri and Guang Hong “Guess who I just spoke to”

“Who?”

“Viktor”

“Did he have anything interesting to say or was he-?”

“Shut up moody bum, he was just asking what I had bought. He’s human too ya know” Phichit slid on the booth up next to Yuuri again, opening his own pizza box.

“You barely know Viktor, Yuuri, just because he acted a bit of a shit to you doesn’t mean he’ll always be like that” he added. Yuuri shrugged, wanting to drop the subject.

“Did he mention wanting to borrow Chris again from our group? If I remember it was about Chris needing to work harder in skating or something” He heard the voice of Guang Hong directing a question towards the Thai.

“No, but we need to ask him if he’s going to do that or not, it’ll be annoying if he cuts our group numbers down again” Phichit replied, putting his pizza down “Hold on, lemme call him over.” Yuuri shot a glare at Phichit, nibbling on a slice to distract himself. His body was on edge now and he’d only just managed to relax a little.

“Viktor!” He gestured for the Russian to come over, who with a box in hand walked towards the booth.

_I actually hate you Phichit._

_Seriously._

“Phichit? What is it?” Viktor raised his eyebrows at the other boy, skimming his gaze over Yuuri. He could feel the sensation, making his hairs stand on end.

“Do you need to take Chris from out of drama again to practice for that upcoming competition? Me and Guang Hong kinda need to know so we aren’t just randomly left without the lead” He explained, Viktor pressed his finger to his lips in thought looking off slightly.

“Maybe next week. You’d have to talk to Yakov about that, because I only have a vague idea” He admitted.

“Oh, that’s okay then” Phichit said, playing with the pizza crust in hand. “Well, you already know Guang Hong”

_Kill me._

_Do not eve-_

“This is Yuuri”

You did that on purpose. Yuuri knew what game he was playing. He knew that Phichit wanted to prove to Yuuri that Viktor was great. He spoke fondly of him, but not everyone had to like him.

“We’ve met” Viktor’s tone was clipped. He and Yuuri locked eyes.

_So first meetings are important huh?_

Viktor stared at him, that intense feeling had returned. Viktor’s eyes had narrowed and Yuuri mirrored his expression, though both were wearing irritation emotions. Yuuri was strangely enough fascinated by the other’s blue eyes. Blue was understatement, they were the colour of the ocean, intense and wild. As of now, there was no sign of a gentle calm. A pang echoed in Yuuri’s chest as though he was missing multiple pieces of a jigsaw. One he would struggle to complete. He felt annoyed and confused, he was angry at the Russian in front of him, yet confused at the strength the irritation was in his eyes.

_Clearly it wasn’t just the roommate issue._

 

The feeling of Phichit shifting beside him made him break the stare down he had with the man before him.

“In fact we are roommates” Viktor continued, as though there was not the obvious awkwardness present.

“I guess that’s good then? Yuuri was a pretty great roommate with me” The poor boy beside Yuuri was trying his best to lighten the mood.

“It’s something” He muttered his reply. He regained his composure he had just lost and gave Phichit a smile that seemed fake and forced to Yuuri. “I suppose I should be going.”

Phichit and Guang Hong nodded and watched him disappear before turning on the boy now mindlessly playing with the pizza.

“What the fuck was that Katsuki?” Phichit demanded, he was playfully annoyed, at least he wasn’t going to rip his head off for having an intense stare down with the Russian.

“Well, technically it is your fault”

“Pffft, I don’t care if it is or not, he looked like he wanted to murder you. I just wanted to see if he was as annoyed with you as he said he was”

“You’re being a bit dramatic with the murder thing there, Phichit” Guang Hong commented.

“And that’s why I’m a drama student Guang Hong”

“If you had not have drawn attention to me then we wouldn’t have that long stare down” Yuuri complained “Besides I don’t lie about things and you know it”

“You lie every now and again”

“We all do”

 

The rest of the meal continued with mindless chatter. Yuuri made it clear he didn’t want to talk about his now roommate anymore, so Phichit lead the conversation, occasionally trying to cheer the mood up with selfies. To which Yuuri tried to decline but more often than not failed miserably.

Now all Yuuri had to do was deal with the fact he had to return to his dorm room. It was only 7pm, but he didn’t want to stay out until 9pm to avoid him, it’d only make things worse.

He walked back to the dorms with the other two boys, they were in deep conversation about their drama performance and what needed to be organised to make it better, as well as what they had to do when Chris was ever stolen from them.  
“Yuuri, you’ll be fine, dont worry. I’ll text you later tonight”

Yuuri gave a smile to put the others at ease, to show that he was strong enough to deal with this.

 

The dorm room creaked slightly at being pushed open, so any ideas of being sneaky went out of the window.

Viktor was laid on his bed, textbook in hand, paying no attention to the other man. Yuuri shrugged and walked over to his, he saw that his towel was still on his bed. He tried not to audibly groan but he let out a sound of annoyance. The other man briefly glanced at him, but elected to ignore him.

He picked up the towel, the once soft material, cold in his hands. He wanted to ask but his voice what to do with it, or where to put it, but he didn’t want to ask him given how awkward it was hours earlier.

“You’ve been stood there for about five minutes” Viktor commented “Clearly you don’t know where to put yourself”

“Not myself.” He frowned, not looking at the other.

“What is it then?”

“The towel”

“What?”

“The towel, I don’t know where you want me to put it” He felt dumb, it was such a stupid thing for him to say.

 

Viktor stood up, and took the towel from Yuuri’s hands “It’s not particularly wet so you might as well just let it dry out in the bathroom, but if it’s soaking there’s a washing basket in that corner over there” He gestured to the corner of the room, that was obscured by Yuuri’s wardrobe.

“Oh.. thank you” Yuuri murmured, Viktor had gone into the bathroom to hang up his towel. “It was a daft question” He mumbled turning to face the now returning man.

“Perhaps daft, but you haven’t lived in this room so it’s understandable” Viktor surprisingly wasn’t showing any sign of irritation towards the other, he seemed strangely at ease.

 

Viktor moved to lay down again, pulling up the textbook and continuing on with his reading. He didn’t say anything more, he didn’t make try and lessen the awkward tension that was present between the two. Yuuri didn’t try either. He stared at Viktor and the book he was studying, he looked at the title ‘Literature over time’. Rather vague of a title, but then again if it went into depth about each time period he supposed it was useful of a book to read. Especially for the essays they had to do.

“What do you want Yuuri?” Viktor lowered the book so his eyes were looking over at him instead of the words decorating the pages in front of him.

“Nothing. I suppose that’s rule number six: don’t look at me unless you have something to say” He couldn’t control himself, he hated the awkward tension so he decided to go and make it even more so. He didn’t intend to be cold. Just sometimes, especially if he had a bad first meeting his replies were usually sharp. He’s proud of himself that he had not submitted by now and allowed himself to apologise for no reason.

“It could be now that you mention it” Viktor raised his eyebrows at him “I might not want your presence, but when I ask you a question you don’t have to reply so sharply. As you can see I’m not saying anything worth getting angry over. I’m in the least threatening position there is, yet I can feel how irritated you are. It’s bizarre, you are definitely something Yuuri Katsuki”

“I’m not irritated”

“Are you sure about that?”

_Is he deliberately getting me annoyed?_

“Oh, I’m positive Viktor”

“That’s fair enough, whatever you say, Yuuri” He dragged his name out for longer than what was necessary. Yuuri glowered at the Russian.

“You talk as though you’ve known me for ages. We don’t know each other”

“I’m surprised you didn’t know who I was when you looked at me this morning”

“Aaaa so I was correct, your ego does get easily damaged” His reply was quick, he felt his voice laced with poison of the sort, he could feel its skin and strength.

Viktor was also equally quick with his movements. He slammed his book down on his bed, and strode towards Yuuri who unfortunately was still stood up. He was fluid with his actions as though it was something that he had always done. Something about him was cat like, unmistakably enchanting to witness. With his presence he brought with him a refreshing scent, a breath of fresh air, something which caught Yuuri’s attention, he was lost for words, enveloped by the warmth of him, the air brought with Viktor overwhelmed him, it was strangely comforting.

One moment he finds the utter thought of Viktor irritating, but the next he is intrigued by the man.

Viktor grabs Yuuri’s shoulders, his chest pressing against his. His head falling to where it was positioned during their first meeting. Viktor’s mouth was directly next to his ear, he could feel the increase in breath, the heat of it contrasting with the air he wrapped Yuuri in.

“I was like this earlier was I not?” He whispered to Yuuri, his voice, despite being low, was dripping with evident displeasure. Something else was present but Yuuri could not pinpoint what it was exactly, and honed in on the emotion which was presented more clearly.

“So you were”

“I told you to not push it, didn’t I? Was I speaking in a foreign tongue? Or did you just choose to ignore it?” Viktor was becoming sharper with his words now, even whispering it made the other shiver.

“I didn’t mean to push. I guess I sometimes can’t help myself. You know, from what Phichit had said about you being a great guy, I find it hard to believe” He glanced at the other man, who narrowed his eyes at him. They were darker now, a deep blue, yet still intense and wild. “I heard, you are the most popular guy here as well as being at the top of English Lit. I suppose that’s why Phichit said you have people crushing on you constantly. They like how you’re sweet and kind. Hah, I don’t see it Viktor.”

“Jealous?”

“Of the title you took from me, yes” Yuuri hated to admit that, he knew Viktor was pleased with his response.

That’s good to know porosenok.” He released a sigh of contentment, his exhale of breath tickling his neck. “How about me as a person?”

“Hah, no. Your name rings a bell, but as far as I know I've never met you. I’m not jealous. Right now, I see you as a rival, an enemy. Competition.”

Viktor pulled back, his hair hung in his face.

“What?” Yuuri frowned at his actions. He looks up sharply at Yuuri, glowering at him, his eyes holding a different kind of fire. One that burned with hate and raged as Yuuri held it. He could almost see the flames from the true look of displeasure Viktor wore. Moments ago he had seemed content with his placement but now he no longer presented such feelings.

“You don’t? You don’t see what you-” Yuuri’s eyes widen at his tone, confusion coursing through his veins “You don’t remem-. I can’t believe you. You’re are more self-centered than me. I’m glad I’m your rival. Maybe I can finally give you the medicine that you truly deserve."

He stepped away from him, running a hand through his hair, pushing it away from his face only to have it fall back again.

Viktor pauses “I don’t know how we are both going to manage until the summer. But, oh how I can’t wait to be rid of you Yuuri Katsuki.”

He opens the door, slamming it shut, leaving Yuuri alone with his confused mind, the footsteps and slam of the door further down the hall echoing Viktor’s rage and outburst.


	2. This isn't going to plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath and lead up to exams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaa I'm sorry, I was meant to finish this earlier- but my college work makes me tired ;_; 
> 
> I hope you guys like this!!! 
> 
> There are many time jumps in this js :33

The room was deathly quietly. After Viktor’s departure, Yuuri stood in the dorm unable to comprehend what had just happened between the two of them. Why Viktor had become angry, to that point, was confusing to the Japanese. He had reacted to something that Yuuri had said, but all he had said was that he wasn’t jealous of the man and that he saw him as a rival.

He was baffled by Viktor’s words. ‘ _You don’t remember’_ He was clearly going to say that, _but_ _remember what? Something from earlier today? Something before that?_ He had said he had never come across Viktor before today. His name a distant thought, yes, but he was not someone he had ever met in the first year.

_If we ever have met before, I can’t remember him. He’s not someone I would forget._

Yuuri didn’t know what to do next, whether to begin studying or to ring Phichit and tell him everything that had happened. He knew the Thai would be excited to hear about it all, but would no doubt tell Yuuri off for being a pain again.

He was feeling on edge, he knew he couldn’t sit in the room and wait for the Russian to come back to the dorm. He could take a walk. If he came across Viktor he wouldn’t say anything to him, he wouldn’t know what to say. It’s not like he could apologise to him. He would apologise if knew what Viktor had meant by his words. Yuuri knew he couldn’t press the man further and demand what he meant, that would probably turn out to be another heated discussion and one of them walking off and leaving everything on a cliffhanger.

As it was only 7:35pm, the evening was still bright and warm. He had only just been out with the others, so it had been 35 minutes since he had entered the dorm. Fantastic, he had managed to piss his roommate off in less than 20 minutes of that time to the point where he had left the room entirely.

Yuuri looked up at the sky, the sun was casting a low orange light over everything and contrasted with the deep grey clouds in the distance. The trees a sharp silhouette against them. It was a pleasant evening, considering what had just happened.

He strolled through the trees that the university had put their to make everything more relaxing for the students. The benches he passed overlooked a stretch of grass, it was almost empty except for a few students playing football and socializing. Yuuri wasn’t one to do that much, fair enough he did with Phichit, but his friendships with others were small and therefore he didn’t need to go out at times like this to talk.

Part of him wished he did have a larger group of friends, so he could do simple things like that with them. But the rest of him had an urge to study and usually he obeyed that side of him to avoid the guilty feeling later. It was bad of him to not relax like most of the student body did, but he couldn’t stop his competitive side of him and allowed it to rule most of the time. Despite having a mainly shy and anxious personality, he deemed it to be bizarre that he was having such a confident streak with Viktor. Probably due to his need to match the other, but usually he would avoid any form of confrontation like Phichit had told Guang Hong.

Staring at the sun slowly descending and replacing its warmth with a cold night, he mindlessly walked behind the shadows cast by the trees around him.

In the distance he could see a man on one of the benches, hunched over, arms wrapped around his body as though he was trying to protect himself. Yuuri was tempted to approach the man to make sure he didn’t need any medical help. He didn’t want to outright walk straight in his direction, so the only way to approach was to slowly make his way over.

The light emitted from the sun made the man’s hair become tinted with orange. It was a pretty sight despite the man’s body language.

Nearing the person, it was only then that Yuuri actually realised it was Viktor and he was walking in his direction.

_I can’t get out of this. I can’t walk past him, I mean I could turn around but he would definitely know it was me. Oh my god, Phichit this would be the perfect time for you to text me._

He stepped further into the cover of the trees, he was close enough to see Viktor’s features and he had clearly not noticed him since his hair was covering his face and view of anyone heading towards him.

A shuddered intake of breath was audible from his cover in the trees, he froze as the sigh voiced from the other was released in a similar fashion. He looked at Viktor again, his hands were shaking slightly and were slowly moving from a fist to being relaxed once more. In this lighting and place, Yuuri could see the distinct glint of tears being illuminated by the direct light caressing the other, slowly falling on his thighs. His numbness was shown, as though he didn’t know what to do with such emotions. As though he had never encountered them before.

Yuuri felt a pang of guilt for looking at the man in such a vulnerable position. It had never been his intention to come across the man like this, he had not expected this either. Yuuri’s first impressions of the man was he was strong minded, despite him not being in his good books, he had not anticipated that the man would react like this to an argument. Unless it was something else as well as, Yuuri would never know and probably never would, considering how they are with each other.

He pulled his gaze away from Viktor, he knew he would probably rage at him if he turned and looked in his direction. Given that Viktor was not looking anywhere near Yuuri, he knew he could probably walk in the shadows and disappear down the next path. He might have to take a longer way to get back to the door of the complex but he needed to avoid Viktor at all costs.

Stepping slowly, he finally managed to slip out of sight.

The only thing he could do now was think why Viktor had been crying and if it was his fault. He may have stormed out of the room but it doesn’t mean something could have happened aside from that. Yuuri found that possibility small, he had a feeling it was his fault, although he couldn’t pinpoint what had actually provoked such a reaction.

  


After what felt like ages, he finally walked back into the dorm room. Viktor still wasn’t back yet, he wasn’t surprised since Yuuri often needed a long time to recover after crying. It’s not like he cries a lot, just sometimes he remembers memories he had with people with he would never see again.

The only selection of memories that hurt Yuuri the most are any that he shared with his dog Vicchan, the toy poodle was everything he had needed. He longed for the little dog to just run into his arms as though last year had never happened and he could be with him again, he wished it was all just some cruel dream and not actually reality. He missed the warmth and the soft fur pressed against him. Vicchan had been a lap dog and gave Yuuri the comfort he needed in his darkest times, seeming to know when it was the best time to snuggle up to the boy and soothe his worries.

He couldn’t help but ponder over such memories given how hectic the day had been. The thought of his dog not being there with him was enough to cause a lump to form in his throat. He didn’t think it to be wise to think about such thoughts for too long because Viktor would then walk into the room with Yuuri looking over his memories with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Yuuri recalled the day that his sister had rung to tell him what had happened. It had been during fresher’s week last year. Something had felt wrong when he had gotten up and he had assumed that it was the butterflies from the party he was going to attend later. He had been correct when his sister’s voice had come through and broke with a sob. He remembers his blood turning cold and immediately knew that it was something to do with his dog. He had been gone almost a month without seeing him and couldn’t even be near him when he had passed. Yuuri could only suppress his thoughts with alcohol, having to wait until the day after to head back for the funeral and to look over his time he shared with Vicchan.

He pulled himself out of the cage of sadness that surrounded the memories nearing the dog’s death. Taking a deep breath he wiped his eyes quickly with the back of his hand, and ignored anymore upsetting memories that were trying to grab his attention.

Busying himself was the only way to ignore everything else. Distraction therapy was a good tactic to avoid anything that wanted to attack his thoughts.

Picking up one of his textbooks, he began the long process of studying and forcing the information stick in his mind to recall for his exams in the coming weeks.

  


It felt like hours had gone past when really it had only been around 10 minutes.

_Studying isn’t doing it’s job like it usually does… maybe because Viktor could walk in at any moment._

The walk had not exactly done its job, probably due to the train of thought that he had upon entering the room. It would have been easier to ring Phichit and not allow his thoughts to go haywire.  


 

8:40pm

 

The door creaks open, the noise echoed sharply in the room. Yuuri looked up quickly, he knew it was Viktor but out of habit he looked at the intruder. 

His hair no longer held the light of the sun, the orange flares had long gone and he was presented with the silver hair, holding the artificial light of Yuuri’s desk lamp instead. His face didn’t show any signs of crying. Viktor’s skin still flawless and fair, the sheen that was usually present on Yuuri’s face along with puffy red eyes was not there with Viktor. Then again it had been about 40 minutes since he had come across Viktor on the bench, so it was long enough for the signs to vanish.

Blue eyes looked into brown as they both watched each other. The Russian’s held no emotion, nothing was present, as though he no longer cared. A light sigh fell past the other’s lips but no words followed. It looked as though he was going to say something to Yuuri but had quickly changed his mind, as though he realised there would be no point wasting his breath on the Japanese. Deeming it a lot easier to ignore him and carry on without having to interact with him. Though this was highly impossible due to them having to share the same space.

Viktor looked away from Yuuri, the awkward tension was unmistakable. Waves of unsurety and discomfort were being voiced in the dorm room. Yuuri watched Viktor’s fluid strides towards his bed.

_Wasn’t there something mentioned about him skating?_

If he did skate, it was clearly obvious, the muscle he has from the sport visible as he moved gracefully to the side of the room that he claimed.

Yuuri pulled his gaze away from the Russian, beginning to read the words on the page in front of him only for them to swim and blur.

Exhausted was the only word he could bring to mind. He knew he should sleep before the lessons begun again tomorrow. His alarm would wake him up at 8am for the English Literature lecture he would have until midday, after that it would be constant studying until he fell asleep and repeated a similar cycle.

Placing his book down on the duvet, he gathered his pyjamas and headed for the bathroom. He wasn’t comfortable with changing in front of the man and knew changing in the bathroom was a wise decision. The Japanese didn’t want to encourage the tension between them both and make it to the point where it would be unbearable to stand.

The pyjamas smelled of home and safety, the faint smell of his mother’s constant cooking for the guests lingered alongside the soothing onsen smell. His home felt so far away but was only a train journey out. Hot water massaging his body and lulling him to lose himself to his surroundings of the hot springs. As of now there was nothing else he wanted. Even though he had left his house this morning it felt so long ago.

Clearly, the events of today had taken its toll. The shower he had earlier had not done much.

Getting into the grey jogging bottoms and a white t-shirt, Yuuri observed his reflection, his skin fair similar to Viktor’s, but with golden undertones that were much more prominent. The blue rimmed glasses that constantly fell down his nose, he didn’t like contact lenses much, they were a pain to put in and sometimes made his eyes itch. Occasionally they came in handy, especially for parties or when he had to perform with ballet.

Phichit had said that his contacts made him sexier, he was surprised by the comment but when he knew Phichit was never wrong about anything. He couldn’t help but agree. When wearing them he would gel his hair back instead of having the inky strands hanging in his face. The Japanese didn’t want people to stare at him, despite wanting attention with some, in crowded situations he prefered to be overlooked and just another face in a sea of people.

He pinched his cheeks, they were not as chubby as they used to be. Since he had decided to lose weight for university he had hardly put any back on, no doubt due to the lack of money most students had. Yuuri was glad he only had enough to indulge every so often and not constantly. His metabolism was irritatingly slow, making him gain weight easily, the stretch marks on his stomach showed his past weight. Most of the time he ignored these marks, knowing they were just part of him. But sometimes he disliked them being on his body and hated his younger self for wanting to eat when he was bored or if he was upset.

Pushing back his hair from his face, the locks delicately slipping through his fingers, some sitting in a new position, whilst most fell back on his forehead.

Hurriedly, he brushed his teeth not wanting to make his trip to the bathroom longer than what was needed. He picked up his clothing opening the door the come face to face with Viktor, whose eyes had widened in surprise, his hand slowly falling down from where it was just about to knock on the door.

“Sorry, I was just going to ask how long you were going to be” His voice was almost inaudible, as though he shouldn’t speak to Yuuri.

“Oh, sorry I took a while” He said. Viktor nodded slightly, his eyes looking down at the floor, stepping out of Yuuri’s way. Yuuri moved swiftly into the room allowing the other man to disappear. He had not realised how long he had been in the bathroom for, but clearly it was long enough for Viktor to feel the need to knock. He felt as though he often lost himself in memories or thoughts to the point where time went out of the window.

He had no idea how the next two months until summer were going to go.

Waking up to his dreaded alarm, he knew they would be torturous.

  
  


7 weeks until summer.

 

Nothing much between the pair had happened, they hardly spoke to each other and only ever did if one of them was in the way or taking too long in the shower. Apart from that they successfully had no discussions that annoyed them, except from death glares every now and again or an exaggerated sound of irritation, usually coming from the Russian.

In the week Yuuri had come across the other, he had begun to see how many times he actually passed the man around the university, particularly in the English department. He had no idea how he had missed his unusual appearance before they were put together but he did. He also noticed how large his group of people crushing on actually was.

The other student had walked into his class to grab more textbooks and the girls seated behind the Japanese had let out muffled gasps and as soon as he had disappeared went into great depth about what he was wearing and about they all saw him ice skate at the weekend.

Yuuri found it laughable that they were obsessing over the man this much.

His popularity wasn’t made up and once again the Thai boy was correct.

 

 _So one week and we haven’t attacked each other yet, god I hope Phichit is proud of my self control._  

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he knew he had jinxed it.

 

The Russian sat at his desk was irritated, his hand constantly running through his hair, eyes narrowed, shoulders tense, clicking his tongue loudly as he skimmed the text in front of him. Yuuri raised an eyebrow at him, he had a feeling he was doing the same set of questions he was currently doing. Knowing that the English Literature classes had all been given the same work to complete and hand in by next week. 

The questions were perplexing and Yuuri was definitely understanding why Viktor was becoming angry.

“Which question is it?” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Viktor shoot a glare at him, the ocean coloured eyes frowning.

“What?” He looked confused and shocked that Yuuri would even dare to speak to him. “If you are offering help I don’t want it”

Yuuri hummed, a smile playing on his mouth “We are doing the same thing, discussing the question isn’t going to kill you”

“I can do it myself”

“Ok, just saying, sometimes even if you’re the best at the subject doesn’t mean you can do everything yourself”

“Are you trying to be a pain in the ass?”

“Not intentionally, I was just being a friendly fellow student”

Viktor frowned at him again, he wasn’t pleased with Yuuri, probably because he broke one of the rules. Not that he cared about that rule because if you needed help, you needed help.

A couple of minutes passed, Viktor still burning holes into the paper in front of him. Yuuri was pretty sure if he kept it up the paper would ignite.

“Fine”

He looked up at the silver at his desk, his hand gripping his pen tightly, as though the thought of asking Yuuri was paining him. Yuuri got up, walking over to his desk, he stood peering over Viktor’s shoulder at the problem at hand.

“Yeah, question five was difficult to do, it’s phrased stupidly. I think I focused more on the political side of everything. I mean the text itself isn’t exactly clear with that, but I got that more compared to everything else” He was surprised by how, well, himself, he was being, no annoyance was laced his voice.

“I had thought that too, but I was tempted to approach it regarding it socially I suppose”

“I guess you could do that, I mean I noticed that here-” He pointed to the paper “Could I borrow your highlighter?” Viktor handed him the pen. “I doubt it’s wrong, I mean if it’s there you can’t really be incorrect if you have the evidence”

“You aren’t wrong there”

“Did you understand the question about Hamlet?” _It couldn’t hurt to ask_

“It took a while to get it, but I was able to answer it, just remember to include things relating to death in the era, I remember my teacher saying it would help with that”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense, thanks” He gave Viktor a quick smile.

  


5 weeks until summer.

 

“How are you doing with Viktor?” Phichit asked, he was scrolling through Instagram again, as usual, double tapping on a photo every now and again. 

“Er, we are putting up with each other I guess. We kinda avoid each other all day and cope in the morning and at night” Yuuri shrugged playing with the straw in his cup. “Why?”

“I like to make sure you’re okay and that Viktor posted something on his snapchat last night” Phichit was biting his lip, holding back his need to laugh.

“What did he post?” He had piqued his curiosity.

He watched Phichit bring the app up and scroll down to the name labelled as ‘Viktor Nikiforov’. He turned his phone around so Yuuri could go through the story himself. The first few snaps were of him at the ice rink, being filmed by a friend he presumed, he was good.. Well good being an understatement, he was a natural. He clicked through some of the videos of his skating and a few selfies until a video of a dark room illuminated by a laptop appeared. The caption being ‘Are you kidding me?’. The snap after being a picture of the room, clearly showing that it was in fact Yuuri with the caption ‘Go to sleep I beg of you’.

Yuuri scowled, _if he had wanted me to go to sleep why the fuck didn’t he just ask?_

“Oh come on Yuuri it’s funny” Phichit nudged his arm playfully.

“Mmm” He drunk some of his drink, avoiding eye contact with Phichit. “Well I thought we were doing okay despite the clear dislike”

“Yeah, he er, voices… his annoyance a lot on snapchat. I just find it amusing to be honest”

“Passive aggressive” His reply was short.

 

Later that night, he had reached 5000 words for an essay in the space of a few hours. He was quite pleased with the amount of work he had managed to do, but the thought of Viktor and snapchat lingered on his mind and he looked over at the man. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but he could clearly see that Viktor was glaring at him, the light from his laptop illuminating his features if only slightly. He looked at the clock ‘00:30”. Yuuri knew Viktor was an early bird and went to bed around the 11-12 mark.

“If you’re taking a video for your snapchat story I will-” He stopped himself, looking over at him again.

“You will what?” Viktor pressed “Maybe it should be me who does something about your irritating nocturnal habits Yuuri”

“Maybe one of us here should stop being so passive aggressive and actually tell me if my sleeping habits are pissing them off”

“Who doesn’t sleep until 2am when they have a lecture in 6 hours?” Viktor changed the subject course, directing it back to Yuuri.

“Me, obviously, I have essays to complete”

“Do it in the daytime”

“No”

“You’re disturbing my sleep Yuuri” His voice became softer, as though he was hoping Yuuri would just drop everything and listen to him.

“Turn over then”

“You’re infuriating” Viktor’s voice became harder at the reply, scowling at the Japanese.

“As you are Viktor, but seriously, you could have told me instead of throwing a tantrum on Snapchat”

“Throwing a tantrum” He laughed at Yuuri as though that comment was stupid when it was in fact true.

“I will take your phone off you if you don’t stop”

“Try” An evident taunt.

Yuuri got up and walked towards Viktor, his blood was boiling, he had not expected to be provoked in the middle of the night. The man was gripping his phone tightly, eyebrows raised questioning Yuuri and what move he was going to make. He may seem weak but his ballet made him have more strength than what other people thought.

He placed one knee on the bed, and swiftly pressed Viktor’s arms against the pillow, Viktor pushed back against Yuuri quickly moving out of his grip. Yuuri tried to grab his arm again but missed again, Viktor grabbed his arm and forced him to fall against the duvet. He let loose an angered grunt, and used his strength to try and throw the Russian off of his arm. He couldn’t do it, he was laying over Viktor’s torso unable to move. Even with the duvet covering the Russian’s torso he could still feel the heat that he emitted. Yuuri tried to disregard that thought and focus on actually getting out of this situation.

“That didn’t work out now did it?” He could feel his laugh vibrating through his body.

“Get off me” Yuuri whispered harshly.

“Don’t bring up empty threats then. I’m stronger out of us two, you knew it would come to this Yuuri”

“I said get off me, but you probably couldn’t hear that over your stupid gloating” Yuuri felt Viktor release him and he proceeded to push his hands up against the mattress into a kneeling position. He looked at the man with phone in hand, a smile playing on his lips. Yuuri narrowed his eyes at him, and began to place one foot on the floor. The only thing he had against Viktor was the element of surprise.

Yuuri quickly reached out towards Viktor, grabbing his t-shirt and pulling him sharply upwards. He almost had his forehead pressed against the other man’s but he cocked his head back slightly, a light laugh leaving his mouth.

“Back to the original matter. If my habits piss you off. Tell me”

Viktor closed his eyes, breathing out a long breath. “Your late night typing pisses me off then, but I’m sure you know that by now”. He opened them again looking at Yuuri with amusement.

The earthy eyes locked onto the ocean ones, the flecks of dark cerulean blue mixed in with strokes of green. It wasn’t something that Yuuri had noticed, well then again he was never this close to the other man and usually avoided him a all costs.

“Considering our current position, I think you’re more pissed at me Yuuri” He continued, he seemed to know which buttons to press to aggravate Yuuri further.

Yuuri released his t-shirt, stepping away from him. The shirt he had gripped crumpled from the pressure of his fingers. He didn’t want to continue this discussion. Yes, he had been more angry compared to the Russian, but it was annoying there was no need for him to act like a child.

“Giving up?”

_I swear down what does he want from me, how do people stand this man?_

He let a breath out through gritted teeth. Viktor was looking at him through his tousled hair, the silver locks messy and unorganised.

“I am. There’s nothing else I can really do”

Viktor raised his eyebrows at the other, but didn’t say anything more.

  


3 weeks until summer

 

Over the course of the next 2 weeks the bitter arguments between the pair had only grown. 

More often than not, the arguments were due to someone either being too loud, being messy or just being there in general.

 

Yuuri didn’t mind studying in the library or spare classrooms reserved for students to revise in, however, given the fact that most of the population in the university had exams right before the summer. They also decided to use said spaces and soon enough they felt claustrophobic and loud, despite the silence they all had to stick to. Students still spoke to each other though, low whispered questions about the task at hand or thoughts on the upcoming summer parties they were going to attend. Yuuri didn’t want to attend any, he probably wouldn’t see anyone when summer hit. Phichit was taking a month’s trip to Thailand to see his family and soak in the country again, before having to return to America. He could Skype him, but apart form that he could easily avoid contact with the people he had to speak to on a daily basis.

Due to the noise that was emitted in the quiet study rooms, he preferred to study in his dorm. He had done it for the mock exams they had taken around Christmas. It was easier with his previous roommate who could practice both in the room and in the drama studio, so he could find some peace and quiet to himself.

However, Viktor, seemed to have similar thoughts to Yuuri.

“Do you mind?” As soon as Yuuri stepped through the door the words were snapped at him. He eyed the other man who had his books sprawled out around him. Yuuri knew that with him being at the top of subject he would have to maintain that title and therefore had a revision plan that was unbelievably similar to his as well.

“Why are you always studying here?” _Stupid question Yuuri, since you already know the damn answer, but still he’s been studying in here for the past week and a half._

“It’s better in here. Could you, I don’t know” He put his book aside, tilting his head slightly “Leave?”

“No, I have the same exam as you. You know how hard it is to study for English Literature”

“And that is why I want you to leave so I can work in peace. Arrogant of me to say, but I’d like to stay in the spot I’m currently in, in the subject.” He smirked at Yuuri, clearly remembering one of their first arguments. Viktor could see that he had angered Yuuri, his features had become teasing and Yuuri could feel his blood beginning to boil under the blue eyes that looked upon him, daring him to strike back.

He did.

“Mmm, and I would like to steal that from you. You don’t deserve that title” He reinforced his jealousy. Though it may be a simple thing, he wanted to be first or there was no point. It was thrilling aiming for such a spot.

“That’s not for you to decide, is it Yuuri?” Viktor was correct, it was not, it was the one who marked the papers, who issued the marks and gave the grades back to them.

Yuuri didn’t speak, he stood toying with his bag strap.

“I take that as a no” He picked up his book again, flicking back to the pages he was once on “Now, please leave so I can continue and prove to you that I’m someone difficult to beat”

Yuuri ignored the Russian, sitting at his desk and dumping all of his textbooks on the table. He disliked his presence, but the twin room was meant for two people, therefore Yuuri should be allowed to use his room when he wanted to and shouldn’t be kicked out by his unfortunate roommate.

All that the Japanese boy could feel was the eyes of the other attacking him. He knew that he was mad for ignoring him, but he needed to work and Viktor was not going to prevent that no matter the circumstances.

“Are you serious?”

“Definitely, I’m not leaving this room to study” Yuuri stood his ground, attempting to assert some form of dominance.

Yuuri began ignoring the other man again, it would be easy to anyway. He would lose himself to the book he had to study, the words would come together to create a scene like no other. Occasionally, such a task could be difficult depending on how detailed the author wanted to go. Yes, he had an appreciation for literature, but some books he found it unbelievably hard to focus on. He remembered falling asleep in direct sunlight with Wuthering Heights in his lap, it wasn’t the greatest of moves as the sunburn on his face was not going to fade quickly. Due to this, he often found that he disliked that book the most, the sunburn being so intense he couldn’t enjoy the heatwave that America was having and had to stay inside for almost a week waiting for it to heal. After that incident he never picked the thing up again.

He was glad that he didn’t have that book to read for one of the remaining essays, the thought of the confusing narration gave him shivers.

Flicking through the pages to his pages, Yuuri could still feel Viktor sitting in annoyed silence. It was something they both had to get used to, there wasn’t much long left now, they had not killed each other yet and that was an achievement.

The silence continued and neither of them were making much noise with the books they held, as though doing so would cause one of them to break.

A small beep from Yuuri’s phone broke into the air, Yuuri’s eyes widened and heard an audible sigh from Viktor to his left. The notification was from Phichit, procrastinating as usual, to get away from his drama work and bother someone else.

 

**PhiChu: Yuuuuuri wat u up 2?? How’s the roomie?**

**KatsukiYuuri: Studying, like you should be**

**KatsukiYuuri: He wanted me to leave so he could study, but I just sat at my desk**

**KatsukiYuuri: He’s burning holes into me as we speak**

**PhiChu: Ffs, Yuuri oml**

**PhiChu: This is the first tym i’ve heard that he h8s some1**

**KatsukiYuuri: Really? Shocking**

**PhiChu: Wonder y it’s u**

**KatsukiYuuri: Yeah, I wonder why he hates me too. I mean he made me dislike him from the start of this rooming thing, so I can’t help being annoyed with him.**

**PhiChu: It’s weird, but u could do a nice thing for him. IDK buy him a coffee**

**KatsukiYuuri: And why would I want to do that?**

**PhiChu: Cos y not? U won’t ever be on his good side**

**KatsukiYuuri: Mmmm, I won’t ever be by the looks of things.**

 

Phichit didn’t reply after that, he hadn’t got the message telling him that he had read it either. He was procrastinating, so knowing the other he must be playing a game or doing something absurd like trying to take his hamsters for a walk.

He placed his phone back down, he didn’t care if Viktor only hated him- it made him feel glad that it was only him that the man hated. As though only Viktor would give him that attention. Despite it being related to hate he still found the idea to be interesting

 

1 week until summer

 

Sighing, Yuuri crossed out another day, the last exam was coming up as were the results from some essays that had been completed earlier in the year. The essays would dictate what position Yuuri would be in the subject. He was more nervous for that than anything else. 

He didn’t want to see a smug smirk on the silver’s features, he wanted to see that on his own. He felt the need to show how good he was, and that was one way to go about it.

Viktor was well known throughout the campus and Yuuri had noticed that more after being shoved in with him. More often than not he found his gaze lingering on him whenever the other man was nearby. He scolded himself a lot for constantly looking over at the other, he couldn’t resist it sometimes. The other was interesting to look at compared to other students Yuuri had come across. With silver hair it was unbelievably difficult to not chase after him.

Even with the other man now behind him in their room he would constantly flit over him, becoming increasingly distracted by him. Yuuri was supposed to find his image repulsive. Well, Yuuri thought that was what came with having a enemy of the sort.

But his image was hiding something else, something Yuuri only got a brief glimpse at if he provoked the man a lot. He wondered what side he kept away from others. It was intriguing to say the least.

The text Phichit had sent him about giving the man a coffee had plagued his mind.

He didn’t know why it was.

Maybe a ‘good luck’ coffee before they get their results back.

The duvet around him soothed his mind, he wasn’t quick to fall asleep, and would often go on his laptop for hours before forcing himself to.

_Perhaps the thought of being free of him is making me relaxed._

_And the hot springs._

_Definitely the hot springs._

With eyes closed Yuuri could sense that Viktor was glancing at him, he knew it was probably because he never went to sleep at this time and the sight no doubt surprised Viktor.

 

 

Last exam

 

“Yuuri” A hand shook him gently “Yuuri wake up”

Yuuri reached out and smacked at his phone, his brain registering the sound as his alarm when it definitely wasn’t that.

“Yuuri”

“Wh-what” His muffled sleep heavy voice replied to the other.

“The exam is in half an hour”

Yuuri’s eyes shot open, his body now fully awake. Viktor stood over him slightly, amusement dancing in his eyes.

“Why the fuck did you not wake me up earlier!?” Yuuri was furious, he never expected the other to ever wake him up, usually it was his alarm’s job, but in this case the device had failed him.

_Still he should have woken me up earlier._

“I was at practice, I only just walked in and it’s a good thing I did porosenok, or you would have missed it”

Frowning, Yuuri pushed up past Viktor, grabbing any item of clothing and dashing into the bathroom to get ready.

“A thank you would have been appreciated”

_Maybe a thank you would be good, but he’s not getting it now._

Dressing hurriedly, Yuuri was pretty damn sure his t-shirt was on back to front. But now, he didn’t care and his thoughts were on his exam he had to run to. Viktor had already disappeared by the time he had emerged from the bathroom.

_At least I don’t have to put up with him before this_

Dashing down the flights of stairs, he willed his legs that still yearned to return to bed, despite oversleeping, to move to the hall where the exam was being held.

As he ran he heard Phichit and Guang Hong shout their good lucks to the boy, he couldn’t reply. He had was various facts on Literature running through his head. Doing another task would only make him fall or run into someone.

As he arrived, students were beginning to disappear into the controlled room, he wasn’t last in the queue which he was thankful for, but now that the exam was upon him he could feel its pressure. The exam seemed ten times worse than it had been days earlier.

_No doubt because I didn’t wake up on time._

He gladly took a pen from the front, his eyes flickering across the students in front of him to his seat number.

_I can do this. Ignore what happened earlier._

_Just beat Viktor._

At that thought, a spark of confidence bloomed within.

 

“Yuuri!” Phichit jumped up behind him “How did your exam go?” 

“It went well actually, considering I woke up half an hour before it was meant to start” Though it had been a fairly easy exam, it irked him that he had not woken up when his alarm had gone off.

Considering the exam was at 1pm, he knew that Viktor usually returned from practice at around 11am, so he knew that Viktor had left him on purpose, even if he had said that he had only returned. It sounded like a lie. He probably thought that he would have the upperhand since Yuuri would be tired. But he had lasted on 2 hours sleep before an exam and done well, so waking up half an hour before wasn’t too bad.

_At least I actually slept, usually I don’t._

“You never do that” Phichit’s dark stormy eyes looked at him with concern.

“Yeah and guess who woke me up”

“I’m guessing your favourite person in the world?” A stifled laugh erupted from the boy leaning on his shoulders.

“Yep. I feel like he left me in bed to get kicks or some shit”

“I doubt that Yuuri” The eyebrows of the other rose, the amused look still on his face.

“Anyway, the exam still went well, I get my results from previous stuff back tomorrow too”

“Oh, that’s good. Maybe celebratory drinks?” His best friend nudged his shoulder, even though he knew Yuuri would definitely decline the offer since Yuuri couldn’t hold his alcohol well.

“I can do a celebratory meal”

“Boring, but fair enough. You won’t be going to any of the parties then? Chris in my class has good parties, you know you can’t miss anything like that” Phichit said, clearly trying his hardest to get Yuuri out and become more sociable.

“No, I won’t, since my lessons have ended. I think I’ll just get my results and leave the day after tomorrow” He admitted, he felt Phichit hum an ‘ok’. He didn’t want to drink even if it was with his best friend. Yuuri was a stupid needy drunk, often doing things his normal sober self wouldn’t dream of doing. People would ask him questions about his actions after, but he never remembered what he did. He could hurt someone’s feelings and wouldn’t know that he had when alcohol flooded his body.

“You should get to know Chris at least, he’s pretty awesome”

“Isn’t he close friends with Viktor?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make him bad, just because you hate Viktor doesn’t mean you have to hate everyone he associates with. Technically you would hate me”

“Fine, maybe in the future then” Yuuri settled.

“Guessing you aren’t gonna return to your dorm yet because of Viktor?”

“Ah- nope, I’ve been here for a while now. I should so I can pack my things” He thought allowed, Phichit moved so that Yuuri could stand, the Thai smiled at him. He didn’t like to see Yuuri troubled especially by a roommate which should be something fun, but Yuuri knew that Phichit wouldn’t get involved unless Yuuri was desperate. All he could offer his friend was advice to keep him going.

“Don’t kill the man, more people would hate you then” The other joked, Yuuri glanced over his shoulder looking at the boy toying with his phone.

“If I do. I’ll need help hiding his body”

“Yuuri!”  


Voices littered out into the hallway, the dorm door was ajar slightly, but Yuuri knew someone else was in there besides Viktor.

_Breaking one of his own rules?_

Walking in, his thoughts were incorrect. Yuuri’s gaze landed on a man with an undercut and sharp hazel eyes, an eyebrow was raised at his entrance. The conversation between the two other men coming to an abrupt halt.

The gaze from the new man in the dorm was soft unlike the hostile glare from the silver on the bed.

Yuuri gave a small smile, his awkward intrusion made his cheeks heat up, he could feel a blush coating his face. Due to his skin tone he knew it wouldn’t go unnoticed either.

“Vraiment? C'est lui?” The man let out a laugh and looked over at Viktor, who scowled.

_Was that French?_

“Oui, croyez-moi quand je le dis” The language was smooth on Viktor’s tongue, much like the Russian word he would throw at Yuuri every now and again.

“Je pensais qu'il serait différent”

“Je pensais avoir vu des photos” Viktor seemed angry towards the man stood by his bed, but the other man was unphased.

“Non”

Yuuri stood, he didn’t know what he could say, it’s not like he could turn around and walk out the door.

_That is an option_

“So, you’re Yuuri” The man smiled at him, eyebrows raised at the him waiting for a reply.

His mouth went dry but he nodded, he hadn’t expected any conversation to be spoken with him.

“I’m Chris”

_Oh.. So this is Chris.. Great._

“You’ll be coming to the end of year party right?” He continued.

_No no no_

“Please don’t be” Viktor grumbled behind Chris, clearly displeased that Chris would even suggest the idea.

“N-no I won’t be, I was planning on going home in a couple of days, sorry” Yuuri pushed his glasses up his nose, trying to distract his mind from the awkward situation he was now in.

“Oh, that’s a shame”

“Sorry.. I’m not really a party goer. Me and alcohol don’t mix” Yuuri admitted.

Yuuri thought he saw Viktor nod in agreement, but he was unsure, his expression was still cold as it was before.

Chris observed Yuuri carefully, his eyes flitting up and down his body. He shuffled under the hazel eyes, before they were pulled away a smile dancing on Chris’ lips.

“I suppose I’ll go. I’ll see you later Viktor, and Yuuri have a good holiday” Chris left the room, a quiet ‘bye’ in reply from Yuuri, and only eyebrows raised from the other.

The air was thick and heavy with tension. Neither spoke or looked at each other.

Picking up his other bag, he began to put his clothing and most of his belongings into the bag. It often took him awhile to put everything away, so starting now wouldn’t do him much harm.

He noticed his ballet shoes were neatly tucked away next to his hoard of jackets, he had forgotten that he could have gone to the studio to practice and break away from his intensive revision schedule. But he could never bring himself to do it. He knew he’d have time over the summer which Yuuri was thankful for. It was something he missed and he couldn’t just spend the entire some reading and writing.

It had been a few months since he had allowed his body to move and dance to music, letting himself become the music itself. To a degree it was something he found annoying about Viktor who always seemed to be out at practice. He had only done a few competitions in ballet, but as soon as he had to study and get the correct grades for university he had stopped himself from carrying out anything that would cause him stress.

Yuuri threw them on the bed along with an armful of clothing.

“Eager to leave?” Viktor asked breaking the silence between the two.

“I suppose you could say that” Yuuri didn’t want this to turn into a bitter conversation. Despite the exam being simple and having a lot of sleep, he was exhausted. The thought of talking and becoming angry sounded exhausting.

_Hopefully he gets the idea._

“Looking forward to tomorrow?”

_Damn you Nikiforov._

“Definitely” Answering with a blunt tone he pretended to act busier than he actually was.

He was looking forward to tomorrow, besides the idea of beating the other student, he wanted to know what grade he had. Though tomorrow also brought waves of nervousness and stress along with it. Part of him kept telling him he had failed and usually that part was the side that he listened to, despite knowing that he had met most, if not all, the criteria.

Thankfully Viktor had chosen to not press further, allowing Yuuri to carry on with his task.

Yuuri didn’t know what he would do for the rest of his day after he had finished packing. He didn’t want to continuously disturb Phichit, he knew that the other was preparing for a test tomorrow morning and he didn’t want to distract him.

Though Phichit did that often with him.

The only other option was to just sit on his laptop and sleep when it gets later. He couldn’t be bothered leaving the dorm again. So doing hardly anything seemed like the best idea to him.

Viktor had been quiet for a while.

He didn’t want to talk to the man, but he was curious to see what the other student was actually doing.

Yuuri looked over his shoulder in the direction of the Russian. His soft chocolate eye widened at the sight of Viktor napping. He had not anticipated that the man would doze off like that. It had been a long exam so he understood that he must be exhausted.

Viktor looked peaceful and at ease asleep. His silver hair tousled, delicately falling on the pillow. It didn’t look real, he appeared as though he had stepped out of some fantasy world and had collapsed on a mortal’s bed.

His breathing was slow, his silvery eyelashes fluttering as he dreamed.

Yuuri moved quietly, even on bad terms it would be rude of him to do things loudly if someone was tired.

It felt like hours, when it had only been 45 minutes. Viktor was still sleeping, Yuuri was aimlessly scrolling the internet, he didn’t think Viktor would still be sleeping. He didn’t mind, it was calming and Yuuri had been craving that.

“Why did you do that?” Yuuri jumped at the mumbled words. Quickly glancing over towards Viktor, he was still sleeping. His expression had changed, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, the words that had left his mouth had a pained tone.

“Please, just tell me” The words were only just audible, he sounded upset, it wasn’t an emotion Yuuri had come across with Viktor. Except with the incident at the start of their living together, but he had not been as close to the man as he was now.

He didn’t know what to make of what Viktor said. Usually the sleep talking didn’t mean that much, so all he could do was ignore it.

The words stopped, only the occasional sigh came from Viktor, the sound lulling Yuuri back to a calmer state.

_Only one night remaining, and then I’m no longer his roommate._

All he needed to do now was get his results and go out for a meal with Phichit. He hardly had to see Viktor but he knew he when he did it would be awkward. He wanted to be top of English Literature like he once thought he was.

 

One of the classrooms in the English department had been set up for the students to get their results for tests that had been marked. He knew that most people here had not really bothered with it all due to it being the first year, and marks didn’t particularly count unlike in second and third. But he still gave a damn and therefore chose to work his ass off as usual.

Walking into the room, he saw varying emotions flashing across other student’s faces, some of them pleased and overjoyed, some stood mute trying to not let a tear fall down their cheeks.

“Name”

“Yuuri Katsuki” the woman in front of him, skimmed through the names until his, handing him it with a smile of ‘good luck’.

He stepped off to the side, near tables pressed up against the walls.

The envelope wasn’t fancy or extravagant unlike other envelopes he had been given when he had left high school.

Nervousness bit at him, hands shaking he pulled out the paper with his grades on. He took in the grades quickly. They had done 4 essays and 1 exam. He knew that this would determine what class he ended up in next year as well. 3 A’s and 2 A+’s, it was better than what he had from the exams he had done around Christmas. Yuuri found the Christmas exams difficult, everyone he knew didn’t concentrate. The hype for Christmas was overwhelming, people didn’t want to work when the holidays were so close. Yuuri supposed this applied for the Summer exams, but people were more stressed than anything. Worry mingled with excitement, people wanted to escape and travel and ignore the exams. But they had to be done, it wasn’t something that could be ignored.

The only thing that remained now was student positioning. Maybe the idea of it all was a little cruel, especially to those who did not receive great grades, but he supposed that  it was meant to encourage students to try harder.

Which with Yuuri, it did.

Glancing around the room, his gaze settled on the screen projected on the wall.

The slide changed, bringing up the the positioning. Yuuri’s name sat next to a sliver 3D fonted second.

_That bastard._

_Damn him, damn him._

_How dare he?!_

It wasn’t as though Viktor himself had chosen to get the top place.

But that didn’t matter, he could already see the smug look resting on his features.

_I hate him, th-that was meant to be me. Not him._

Storming out of the room, he ignored the gazes that fell on him as he pushed out of the class.

Tears burned his eyes, he had wanted that title, to almost prove himself that he was good at the subject. He felt as though Viktor didn’t believe that he also studied it. Now that feeling would only increase and become stronger.

Yuuri could only return to his dorm room, he knew that could mean running into the man who stole what he so desperately had been aiming for, for the past few weeks.

_You’re not good enough_

_You knew this would happen._

_Quit already, what’s the point in continuing if you can’t beat him?_

His mind was screaming at him, he wanted to disappear away from the world, he didn’t want to have to face that man.

Yuuri was a mess when he cried, his eyes became irritated and puffy. It was easy enough to see that he was upset, he could never hide it. Couldn’t even play it off with something being in his eye. People knew, they could hear the slightly erratic breathing, where he breathing would catch and shake when he exhaled. Yuuri could see people pause as they caught a glance at the shattered glass heart that swiftly moved past them. The shards visible for everyone to see, catching the light as he moved. The glass no longer an aesthetic.

Wiping his eyes angrily with his sleeve, trying to mask his emotion if only slightly. He didn’t want it to be blatantly obvious, he didn’t need people to comment on how he was feeling or what emotion he was conveying.

Skin stinging around his eyes stung, he hadn’t realised he had cried that much walking towards the dorm.

Everything was silent. The click of the door handle echoed as he opened it.

_There he is._

“Viktor” A whisper of his name pierced the air.

He turned to Yuuri. Viktor observed him carefully, for a brief second his features voiced confusion, his eyebrows furrowing slightly before raising as he began to understand why Yuuri looked the way he did.

The smug smile Yuuri knew he would see was all that was now painted on the other’s face. A victorious expression mirroring Yuuri’s defeated one.

“How does it feel to still be second?” His pleased tone apparent.  

“Y-you- How dare you?” His voice wavered, the remnants of his previous emotion attacked his tone “You don’t deserve that.”

“I don’t deserve it because of your jealousy. Have you even read my work?” Yuuri didn’t want to admit that he had not. He knew it was quality of work and not about the actual person. But he couldn’t help but blame Viktor himself for the reason as to why he beat him, he didn’t care about what sort of work he produced.

“I’m guessing you haven’t then” the other continued, pride laced in his voice “A shame really, my work is quite clearly the best”

“Stop gloating” Yuuri didn’t trust himself, he knew he could continue to break.

“You know, there were only a few marks between us, you were close to taking this crown I apparently have. But you didn’t” The ocean’s gaze burned into the earth’s. “So far all you have said is that I don’t deserve it, sort of makes me think that you’re a-” He walked towards Yuuri, who moved backwards until the door was pressed against his back, the hard wood uncomfortable.

“Don’t dare say it”

“A sore loser” The words fell into the air, Yuuri didn’t want to hear it. It was true for the most part, but he had wanted to show how his strength with his favourite subject, he competitive urges had wanted him to prove that he could work against the holder of the title. As far as he knew he had failed and he was rubbish. His mind played with his weakness and anxiety towards his self-confidence, wanting it to become less and less, until there was nothing left to toy with.

“You bastard” He whispered, Yuuri could no longer see, his sight becoming a blur as the tears began to flow down his face. Hanging his head, he tried to hide his face away from Viktor’s eyes.

“It’s not fair” Yuuri whispered again.

“Don’t act like it’s the end of the world, just because you can’t accept defeat” Viktor leaned towards Yuuri smirking again. “I do wonder- how does it feel?”

“What?” Yuuri replied bitterly.

“To have not been able to surpass me, I can feel the anger flowing from you, so you can’t exactly lie to me”  

“Shut up Viktor”

“It’s not my fault-”

“Shu-”

“That you’re a sore loser”

The tears were beginning to fall more violently now, staining his cheeks once more. He was losing his control now, he couldn’t focus, he just wanted to cry.

“Are you crying?”

Even though Viktor did sound a little concerned, Yuuri snapped his head up. His eyes ached, his sight was covered by tears that were still falling.

Moving quickly towards the taller man, he grabbed his t-shirt in his shaking hand.

“Stop it. I don’t want to hear how stupid and useless I am. How I’m fucking weak and yes a sore loser. I don’t care, I wanted to prove myself and I couldn’t because of you” He spat out bitterly.

“It’s not fair, I actually am useless, I should give up, I don’t deserve to be here” He hadn’t thought he would be so open, but he couldn’t contain it and allow Viktor to think otherwise.

A sob shook through him, he pressed his forehead against Viktor’s shoulder, clinging to his t-shirt harder. He could feel the tears staining the other, the tears seeping into his top. He couldn’t stop the strong emotion that wracked through his body.

“I wanted to show that I was better, I wanted your title. I-I” Yuuri whispered harshly, his irritation was visible but not as much as his pain for his loss. Viktor was tense against him, not knowing how to react to Yuuri.

“H-how dare you” His voice was quiet, masked by a shaky breath.

“Yuuri I-” Viktor started.

“Don’t, please be quiet”

Viktor was still tense, his body still surprised from the sudden contact. Yuuri could feel his uneasiness.

He continued to cry quietly against his rival, he was aware of how he was probably ruining the clothing, but he didn’t care, he didn’t want Viktor to see his face. Viktor moved slightly, a hand gently coming to rest on the back of Yuuri’s head, fingers trying hard to soothe Yuuri.

_What..why is he?_

“Viktor-” A blaring invasive noise erupted in the room, Yuuri jumped away from Viktor, quickly realising it was his phone and no doubt Phichit trying to get a hold of him.

Viktor looked away from Yuuri, hand tightening by his side.

“Phichit? Yeah.. I’ll head down now” Yuuri managed, his voice still heavy with sadness.

He hung up, putting the phone in his pocket, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other awkwardly, glancing at Viktor.

“S-sorry” Yuuri whispered before leaving. Not wanting to hear anything more from the other.

 

“You didn’t have to apologise you know that right?” Phichit put his spoon in his mouth, looking at the boy opposite who was stirring his ice cream into mush. “He did call you a sore loser. I mean I don’t care if it was Viktor Nikiforov but I would have probably snapped back a lot harsher than what you did” He shoved the dessert into his mouth “To be honest I probably would have reacted the same way I did to our neighbours at the start of the year… You know, when I practically jumped on his back for calling my hamsters ‘tiny shitty gerbils’” 

That earnt a small smile from Yuuri who remembered how chaotic his friend had been, to the point where the cleaning lady had almost attacked them with a broom. He knew his friend was trying to improve his distressed mood.

“Still, I cried on him. I was voicing all my problems- you know I would never just throw them out like that. I-I know he maybe didn’t deserve an apology- or maybe he should have said it to me t-”

“Except you basically walked out of the room before he had a chance to. If he had his hand on your hair like you said. I’ve got a feeling he was trying to comfort you, and apologise that way.” Phichit smiled at that thought, Yuuri didn’t press, his mind didn’t know what to do with that thought. Most of him was confused by that thought, whilst a small part of him was intrigued by that idea. He suppressed that thought, he didn’t want to think about that.

“I doubt that”

“Hmm” Phichit didn’t say much else in relation to the topic, he wanted to distract his friend, not cause the butterflies within to increase in furiosity.

The topics between the two ranged between memories the two have shared in the first year and second year. Phichit continued to try his best to make Yuuri relax, but all that was on his mind was the previous situation with Viktor and the thought of returning to the room for one more night.

Yuuri was disheartened at the thought of not being able to see his best friend when he left, but he had purposely chosen the earliest train so that he could get away from Viktor.

Phichit pestered him about Skype calls and how they will have to constantly keep up so, in Phichit’s words ‘I won’t miss any shit that goes down.’

After the ice cream Yuuri entered an empty dorm, the curtains were drawn. He and Phichit had been out for a few hours so evening was beginning to show in the sky.

He wasn’t surprised that Viktor was not there.

He obviously wanted to avoid him as much as Yuuri did.

_I’m glad._

He couldn’t do much except scroll on his phone, the rest of his belongings packed away, out of his reach.

Viktor came in a few hours later, the other man paused upon entry. Yuuri felt his eyes look over him before he moved towards his bed.

He didn’t say anything to Yuuri and Yuuri spoke no word to him.

By tomorrow morning neither would have deal with their presence. It was a breath of fresh air for Yuuri, the idea making the butterflies ease.

  
  


The alarm rung aggressively in the dorm room. Breaking the sleepy silence, alerting both in the room. Yuuri scrambled quickly to turn it off, he had turned it up to a louder volume setting to make sure that he wasn’t going to sleep in. The noise was irritating, sharp. Annoying everyone who heard it.

“Did you have to set it so loud?” Viktor grumbled against in his duvet, his gaze sleepy and disgruntled.

“I didn’t want to miss my train” He climbed out bed, fumbling to put his glasses on.

A low ‘oh’ came from the Russian across from him.

“I’ll be out of your hair soon, I’m leaving earlier so..” Yuuri continued. His plan was to get breakfast at the train station and he was planning to stick to it.

“Good” The answer was slower than what Yuuri had expected. Not that he had expected a party from Viktor, with balloons and banners. Perhaps a cake with ‘Bye my shitty roommate’ written on it. He had thought Viktor would have replied sharper, but instead the response was slow

_Well I did just wake him up from his sleep._

Yuuri dressed quickly in the bathroom. Pushing his hair out of his eyes with some water.

Emerging he glanced at Viktor’s bed to see the man still laying in bed. He had an hour before his train and knew it was probably best for him to leave now and not later.

He picked up his bag, Viktor looked over at him, pulling his eyes away from his phone.

“Bye Yuuri, we are finally rid of each other” He gave him a lazy smile, the dislike wasn’t present as much as it usually was, sleep still playing with his features.

“And how I am glad” Yuuri replied. He pulled the door open, scanning his side of the room quickly for anything he had left. Nothing remained, he stepped out into the quiet hallway. Despite it being early, there was a buzz of excitement in the air, people finally getting the holiday the yearned for.

  
  


Summer

 

The first few weeks of the holidays had gone calmly.

For the first week Yuuri deemed it necessary to sleep in for as long as possible before his mother knocked on the door asking him to clean up or help out in the bath area.

Due it being the summertime there was an influx in customers who wished to stay for hours at a time at Yu-topia. Which meant more money for his family, but hardly any time for him to go out and do what he wanted. Not that Yuuri was the sort to go out all the time, but he needed to pick up ballet again to get his body back in shape before the second year. The new school year was a way off but he still wanted to be prepared for the sport he would have to do more intensively than he had done for a few years.

Yuuri walked to the kitchen, his intention was to leave to visit one of the nearby dance studios to begin moving his heart and soul to the music. His body was itching to put his feet back into the ballet pumps and had been for so long now. After stopping to concentrate on his studies Yuuri knew that his body would beg him to ignore his passion for the arts of writing and reading, and continue practicing his ballet more. But he couldn’t do that, he wanted an academic job over a dancing job, he had considered sticking with the sport but he adored the language and literature too much for his own good.

His mother looked up at him as he entered, she stirred the pot in front of her on the oven. The rich smells infused the air and Yuuri knew instantly what she was making. The dish that reminded him of his family and of his childhood in Japan. Katsudon. More often than not he blamed the dish for how quickly he gained weight. He couldn’t turn down the meal whenever his mother offered him it, it was filling.

_Well it should be, considering the amount of calories it has._

Even now, looking over his mother’s shoulder he desired to grab himself a bowl.

_Don’t do it, goddammit do not._

“Do you want a bowl Yuuri?” She offered. Yuuri chewed his lip thoughtfully battling two conflicting thoughts. He looked at his mother who seemed to know that he was longing to eat some.

“Ah-no I don’t think I should” The confliction ended on the option where guilt wouldn’t suffocate him for hours on end.

“Dieting again?” She turned the heat down on the oven, letting the food simmer.

“Yeah- when I came back from uni I sorta ate more than needed” Yuuri explained. Since the dish was something he couldn’t really have at university. More like, no other restaurant he had visited and dragged Phichit to did it like his mother did, so he chose not to have it all. Which meant to him eating 3 bowls a day for a week solid. The texts he received from Phichit about the food was that ‘he had no damn chill’.

“Ballet?”

“Yeah, I’ll be doing the work when I get back.. I won’t be that long” Yuuri smiled at his mother. She didn’t press further, knowing that Yuuri wouldn’t ignore that the family needed help in the summer.

 

He pushed his longing for the meal that was calling his name to the back of his mind. He stepped out of Yu-topia, the weather was fairly warm but was accompanied with a cool breeze, the small gusts of wind made Yuuri shiver. The only way he could ignore the wind was to jog his way to the studio, the heat from the exercise would keep him warm.

The glasses resting on his face slid down the bridge of his nose, and every minute or so his hand moved up to push them back into place. Every time the blue rims fell he complained inwardly, it was one of the many downfalls of his pair, though contacts were not his favourite, in cases like this they were.

Yuuri considered taking them off, but if he did that he would probably run into something and that would be the end of him. He’d have to take them off in the studio, but it wasn’t like he would fall down a hill in a room, so the continuation of pushing them up his face proceeded.

The dance studio appeared as he turned the corner, there were one or two cars parked in front, meaning it was open for use. The owner often let him use the spare keys so that he could use it late at night when a competition was approaching, but recently had not needed to use them with him being an hour train ride away at university.

The woman greeted Yuuri with a smile, his face a favourite and familiar.

Sitting on the floor he hastily put on the ballet pumps, the material was snug against his feet. He missed the familiarity of this studio, the layout still the same from when he had last been in. It was another home to him and it welcomed his return.

He slowly began to stretch his muscles out. Using the barre to hold onto as he pushed himself up on one foot, his other leg coming up, lightly touching the inside of his knee before switching. His muscles ached slightly with the stretch, slowly recalling the neglected flexibility.

Bringing one leg up to the highest bar he leaned into it, his back easing into the movement. Stretching soothed his mind, it was an annoying thing to do, but it mentally prepared him for what his body was just about to go through. Yuuri knew he shouldn’t ignore carrying such task out, but if he did his muscles would scream at him for days on end. Yuuri shuddered at the memory of him forgetting to do it before a competition, his body was in constant pain as he had performed. Even with endless soaks in the hot springs prior didn’t do anything and had caused him to not even be in the top three. From that day forwards he forced himself to stretch thoroughly, not wanting a repeat of that.

Standing in the centre of the room, Yuuri put the headphones in, tucking his phone down his t-shirt and into his pocket.

The music began to play in the headphones, the beginning soft, setting his mind into that of an adventure. Yuuri moved slowly to the piano keys. Moving gently and gracefully to the increasing pace of music. It felt like a deep breath of air, washing over him and enveloping him in his own world, far from the one he was in.

With poised feet he jumped slightly as the notes became more prominent over the smooth tinkling. He moved backwards, wrapping his arms around him as the instrument slowed, lighthearted and captivating. Yuuri spun with ease, his leg tucking against his other, moving swiftly with the fluidity of the tune. It was enticing, he willing let himself go, forgetting and remembering everything all at once. Forgetting about his unfortunate experience with Viktor from the weeks before, but also allowing the anger he felt towards the man morph into his dance. He didn’t know what had caused Viktor to act such a way towards him, he knew he was missing something. He was curious yes, but not enough to go and ask the other what had gone on.

Leaping into a jump as the notes became louder, his mind lingered on the affectionate gesture the other had done when Yuuri had come second.

_Maybe Phichit was right. Maybe he was trying to comfort me._

Yuuri had wanted to ask what the other man was doing but he never got the chance, the mood shifting instantly when the phone had caused Yuuri to jump away from his upset position against Viktor’s chest.

The thoughts swam through his brain as he moved like the water they were in. The water rapid and swift, before becoming gentle like an ocean after a storm.

The music stopped, switching songs to another on his playlist.

Yuuri had missed this.

Missed the way he could create story with the way he moved.

With the way his stamina was he could probably manage a few more songs until his body wanted to collapse for not working out as often as he should have done.  


Sweat covered his skin, his shirt clung to him. His body was tingling, the endorphins rushing through him allowing him to ignore how breathless he was. Yuuri allowed his heart rate to slow as he strolled home, not bothering to jog after an intense session he had just given himself.

The cool wind still remained, soothing his heated skin.

The trees around him rustled, the light caressing his skin. Yuuri took a long drink from his bottle listening to the sounds around him over the blaring music that came from his headphones that dangled over the top of his shirt.

He walked into Yu-topia, the smell of Katsudon still lingered in the air meaning that someone had no doubt ordered it to eat. Kicking off his shoes, he looked up, feeling eyes on him.

_Vicchan?_

_No, it’s obviously not him._

His heart panged as he looked at the larger poodle sat staring at him. Yu-topia allowed people to bring dogs since his parents were so used to having a dog around they thought having people bring their pets would also fill the Vicchan shaped hole in their heart.

The dog bounded over to him, barking happily as Yuuri bent down to stroke the curly fur.

“You’re a lovely dog aren’t you?” The sight of such a happy poodle made his eyes sting, he bit his lip to distract himself, continuing to rub the dog’s coat. The dog panted, the tail thumping against the floor “Yes, you are” He continued, the dog followed Yuuri further into the onsen.

Yuuri had an idea that the owner was probably busy in the baths, leaving the dog to its own devices.

“It’s like we have a larger Vicchan isn’t it” His sister said behind him, he stopped in his tracks turning to Mari. She gave him a weak smile, Yuuri knew the absence of the dog and the upcoming one year anniversary without him pained her heart. She had looked after the little poodle a lot, often watching over him when Yuuri was out at school.

Mari never said she minded, she had grown to love the dog. The sight of one with a similar temperament hit hard.

“Yeah, it is. Little bigger though” Yuuri returned the smile, trying to make his sister smile.

“Just a bit yeah. Nice dog though, been following me around until you arrived” Mari rested her body against the door frame, the poodle wagging its tail, as though it knew they were discussing it.

Yuuri smiled at that, it was though the dog knew that they had all been longing for the breed to return to their household, even if it was for a few hours.

“You going to clean?” Mari questioned her gaze on the dog in front of them both, Yuuri hummed a ‘yes’, “Make sure you aren’t followed” She looked at the dog pointedly. Yuuri found the thought of the dog getting in the baths amusing, he used to sneak Vicchan in and let him splash in a more private bath.

Dressing in the red Jinbei, similar to that of his sister’s and mother’s, Yuuri headed towards the baths area, checking behind him that the poodle wasn’t following. Thankfully, Mari had probably distracted the dog, allowing Yuuri to get on with the job.

 

He walked in, mop in hand. The cleaning area was fairly quiet considering the time of year. There were a few men talking quietly to each other having sips of water every now and again. For an hour or so the onsen was for men only before changing over to women.

He begun to push the water down towards the drains, his feet slipping on the wet floor. In one of the more secluded baths, used for people who didn’t want to use one with many people in it, he could hear an increase in talking. Yuuri frowned, he knew that he would have to tell them to quiet down as it would disturb the other people using the facility. His anxiety part of him shuddered at the thought, he didn’t want to confront people, but he knew it was something he had to do in a place like this. Placing the mop down against the wall, he removed the creases in the Jinbei and walked towards the door.

“Why did you even bring me here!?” The voice was harsh and loud, annoyance laced in it “I feel dizzy” The voice quietened slightly.

“Excuse me” Yuuri began, his eyes shut as he begun his sentence. The voice stopped talking.

Yuuri opened his eyes “Could you keep your voice down it disturbs the othe-” Yuuri stopped staring at the people in front of him, his eyes resting on the one he had put up with for two months.

_Why is he here!?_

_Oh_

_My_

_God_

Viktor opened his eyes, letting the towel fall from his head. He frowned at Yuuri, no wondering the same thing. The silver hair was becoming darker and stronger from the humidity, pushed back strands fell down into his face.

“Yuuri” His voice was low, but even with the splashing water falling into the pool it was clear in Yuuri’s ears “Why are you here?”

“What?” The younger boy next to him furrowed his brows next to him. “You brought me here idiot.”

“Not you, Yuri, Yuuri there” Blue eyes stared into Yuuri’s brown. The blonde, Yuri, raised his eyebrows at Yuuri.

“Why the fuck do you have my name!?” Yuri shouted at him, Yuuri ignored him, not wanting to have to argue with someone in the baths.

“I could ask you the same question, Viktor” He replied, keeping his tone level. “Right not, I’m here to tell you to quieten down as it will disturb the other people here” Yuuri’s usual anxious state lost against his urge to present confidence.

“Mmm, well I’m here to use the baths. I’m guessing you work here. I thought I would no longer have to see you” Viktor ran a hand through his hair before rest his harms on the rocks behind him.

“I live here. I thought the same, how unfortunate.” Yuuri’s mind brought up the memory of his and Viktor’s last argument, despite the man showing some comfort, he was hurt by the words that voiced the truth. As well as being annoyed at himself for putting his emotions on display like that in front of his rival.

“Don’t ignore me!” The eyes that resembled that of Viktor’s, scowled.

“Yura, you don’t need to talk so loud” Viktor sighed. “That’s probably why you are dizzy” He tone was more lighthearted towards the smaller.

“Shut up” Yuri grumbled, the red glittering his cheeks more intense than it had been moments ago. Yuuri turned and grabbed a small towel that rests on the head. He didn’t see why Yuri had not picked one up if Viktor had. He walked as close to the edge as he could get, handing the towel to the other boy. “What are you doing, porosenok?” The name Viktor used towards him, made his eyes widen, he still had no idea what the name meant, but deemed it to be an insult if he had used it as well.

“It helps prevent dizziness” Yuuri explained, Yuri placed it on his head and sunk lower into the hot water. “As I said before, please keep it down.”

His heart was racing, he didn’t get why Viktor had to be here. Well he knew that this was the closest onsen for miles around so there was that. People wanted the experience without having to pay a fortune to fly to Japan.

He continued with his work trying to distract himself.

Yuuri moved the used towels to the wash basket and hurriedly tried to clean the floor with the mop so that he can get out of the place.

He wasn’t quick enough, he could hear the pair leaving the bath and heading inside again.

Glancing towards the door, his hearing was correct. With towels around their waists, both entered following the directions the onsen set.

Yuuri’s glance turned into a stare. Despite sharing a room with Viktor he had never seen the man wearing so little. His body was muscular and toned through the skating that he did. It was mesmerising to look at. It was like he was a sculpture, or a god, something he shouldn’t have his eyes on but he still did. Viktor was flushed from the baths, droplets of water slowly falling down his neck, resting on his collarbone. He didn’t even know he was staring the other man until he felt his cheeks burn.

_I already knew he had an interesting appearance.. But yeah he’s definitely_

_Attractive? Handsome? Beautiful?_

_Shush, I hate him_

_Doesn’t mean he’s bad looking.._

Yuuri was still staring at Viktor, having an argument with himself. Until he glanced up and saw that Viktor was looking at him with an amused expression.

_Oh shit._

Neither said anything, Yuuri replaced the open mouthed amazed look with a look of disinterest. He didn’t want to encourage the man to point out that Yuuri had been gawping at him.

Yuuri grabbed the mop when Viktor was distracted by the small blonde, and made a run for it. The cooler air of the building calming his heart rate.

He exhaled a sigh of relief, pulling out his phone to message Phichit. He could already see the other boy’s expression without having to be near him

 

**KatsukiYuuri: Phichit, he’s here at the onsen. Help!**

 

He rested his head against the wall, waiting for the reply from his friend. He shouldn’t expect a quick reply but Phichit is forever on his phone.

 

 **PhiChu: Viktor!? AHAHAHA**  

**KatsukiYuuri: Yeah.. seriously I don’t know what to do. I didn’t know it was him but his friend or whatever was being loud**

**PhiChu: I’M WHEEZING**

**PhiChu: FFFF As if ahahhaa**

**KatsukiYuuri: You’re not helping**

**PhiChu: IDk just go with your gut feeling, try and not give him any attention idkkk**

**KatsukiYuuri: Oh..**

**PhiChu: What did u do?**

**KatsukiYuuri: I stared at his naked chest for a solid minute.**

**PhiChu: …**

**KatsukiYuuri: He noticed..**

**PhiChu: AAAAAAAHAAA**

**PhiChu: U idiot**

**KatsukiYuuri: What do I do Phichit?**

**PhiChu: NO idea m8.. As I said stick with yo gut**

 

Yuuri groaned, he hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with the Russian any further.

“So it’s you” Yuuri had been busing himself in the main room, cleaning away cups and plates, when the Yuri approached him.

“I’m sorry what?” Yuuri was lost.

“You don’t know porosenok?” The words were bitter, the boy adorned in animal print was leaning up towards his face, too close to comfort.

Yuuri leaned away, eyebrows raised “Know what?”

“What you did”

“Erm.. no?”

_I’ve just met him, did I hurt him in a dream or what?_

“Idiot. Don’t dare fuck Viktor around again, or I will actually end you” Yuri glared at him, Yuuri stepped backwards.

_Again?_

_I hardly did anything in those two months._

Yuuri didn’t say anything, confused by the smaller more feisty Russian before him.

“Yuraa! You ready to go?” Viktor was stood by the exit, car keys in hand. He raised an eyebrow at the pair.

“Yes I am” Yuri directed it towards Yuuri, and started to walk away from him, hands in pockets. “Where’s your dumb dog?”

“Don’t say that about Makkachin” Viktor said pouting. Yuuri felt as though he was looking at a completely different Viktor, someone who was not like the one who argued with Yuuri.

“There he is” Yuri grumbled. Yuuri looked over in the same direction. The poodle from early was bounding over.

Makkachin completely bypassed Viktor, heading straight for Yuuri instead, tail wagging in excitement.

“Hello again” Yuuri bent down stroking the dog as he was beginning to lick his face. Yuuri laughed, allowing Makkachin to push Yuuri to the ground continuing to shower Yuuri with affection.

“Makkachin don’t do that” Viktor was stood over them, the dog got off of Yuuri. Viktor paused slightly, and then put out his hand to help Yuuri up.

Yuuri looked at the hand and up at Viktor’s face. He took the hand and let Viktor pull him up.

He stumbled, his balance failing him, stopping his fall by grabbing on to Viktor’s shoulder. Yuuri flushed, he felt Viktor tense at Yuuri’s touch, his blue eyes wide in surprise.

“S-sorry” Yuuri jumped backwards, putting his hands behind his back, avoiding Viktor’s stare.

“It’s fine” It was a quiet reply from Viktor, strangely it wasn’t said with any form of irritation. Yuuri nodded, watching Viktor put his lead on Makkachin.

“What the fuck was that all about!?” Yuri spat his question, glaring at Yuuri over Viktor’s shoulder before the two of them disappeared out of the door.

Yuuri sighed in relief, the day had gone well until that encounter. Mari stared at him, a smile playing on her features.

She didn’t bring it up, neither did Yuuri.

 

Viktor didn’t return to the onsen again the rest of the summer.

Yuuri was glad that he hadn’t.

He didn’t want to have to deal with him again.

Ever again.

 

Well he thought that. 

Until he heard the door of the dorm he was now living in open. Glancing up to see that man with suitcase and bag in hand.

“You’ve got to be kidding me” The annoyed look Yuuri had not seen for weeks had returned.

_The universe must actually hate me._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vraiment? C'est lui: Really? This is him  
> Oui, croyez-moi quand je le dis: Yes, believe me when I say it  
> Je pensais qu'il serait différent: I thought he would be different  
> Je pensais avoir vu des photos: I thought you saw some pictures  
> Non: No  
> Porosenok: Piggy  
> (Google is our friend)
> 
> I can't believe we get a movie aaa
> 
> So yeah, I feel like Yuuri dislikes Viktor (or hates to be extreme) but he's becoming confused by some sign of affection 
> 
> I hope you guys didn't mind the jumps, I needed to speed things up 
> 
> I was listening to All I want by Kodaline when writing about Vicchan and Nuvole Bianche by Ludovico Einaudi for the ballet bit.
> 
> Stasiiya on tumblr, you can discuss yoi with me, I'm down for that. (Same name on insta too js).
> 
> Thank you for reading! I look forward to seeing your comments.


	3. Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri has a lot of mixed feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished college then decided to have chill time before I even thought about typing this ahah.
> 
> I hope you guys forgive me for that snapchat thing
> 
> Pls enjoy

Blue eyes locked onto the brown, a look of surprise combined with annoyance graced Viktor’s features. This was not something either had expected. Yuuri guessed the university picked up on how their grades had improved, despite being in different classes, and therefore placed them together.

_Or sheer bad luck._

Viktor’s mouth hung open, apart from the words he had said upon entry nothing else had left the Russian’s mouth.  
“Er-” Yuuri started, unsure of what to say to make the situation better, Viktor raised his eyebrows at Yuuri, waiting for him to say something. He shrugged his shoulders, averting is gaze from the intensity of the blue’s across the room.

Viktor huffed lightly placing his belongings on the unoccupied bed. He turned and left the room, leaving Yuuri confused as to what the other man was thinking.

He stood expecting the other’s return to be prompt and to begin the process of actually getting used to the man he was rooming with for the next year.

_It can’t be so bad.._

Part of Yuuri latched onto the idea that everything would go well, whilst other parts were restless and on edge. After spending the time after Spring break with the other, he didn’t want to have to do it again. It was easier for it to be a new year, rather than being thrown together.

If he had to deal with Viktor, he could try to be pleasant, but he knew that would be a challenge, especially after the look the Russian had when he walked through the door.

 

10 minutes turned into 30 minutes before the silver haired entered the dorm room again. Viktor ran a hand through his hair, the locks becoming mused and unorganised.

“Bad news, we are stuck with each other. There are no empty rooms free and we can’t switch with anyone because apparently it’s a difficult thing for them to do” Viktor said. Viktor sighed, like Yuuri he looked as though he didn’t know where to place himself. Yuuri nodded slowly, accepting that they had to once again put up with each other.

“They must have more new students this year or something” He trailed off, he couldn’t bring himself to say something that would only start a heated discussion. The other looked up from his suitcase with wide eyes, until his expression slackened quickly.

Viktor hummed a reply.

 

No conversation erupted between the two for hours. Neither wanting to say much to the other.

Yuuri was tempted to ask if he had a good Summer or not, just to play nice and not have the crushing tension weighing his shoulders down. Small talk wasn’t the best of things, only used on people who you hardly know or don’t have much in common with.

His anxious part battled with the side that was more at ease. He opened his mouth a few times, but no words left.

Releasing a heavy sigh, he turned to other man. “Did you have a good Summer?” Yuuri watched Viktor jump at the words that broke the quietness between them. Masking this masterfully, he observed Yuuri, a hint of surprise still lingered in his gaze.

“I did actually, and you?” Viktor gave him a smile, the tables had turned as the question was batted back.

“Yeah, it was good to have a break I guess” He was tempted to bring up him being at the onsen, but the question would sound too intrusive and rude.

_Not like I haven’t been rude before, but it’s not needed._

“I didn’t expect you to be at Yu-topia of all places” It was almost as if Viktor had heard his need to ask it and saved him the awkwardness of bringing it up. “I’m sorry that Yuri was loud, he usually is, the amount of times he gets told to quieten down is unreal” Viktor’s mouth curled into a smile again at the thought of the other Yuri.

“It’s fine, we’ve had worse there. Just kind of awkward having to tell someone to shut up I guess” Yuuri replied, a nervous laugh finishing the sentence.

“You told me to shut up a lot, and it never seemed to bother you” He played, winking at Yuuri. Yuuri’s reply caught in his throat, his cheeks became warmer at the action aimed towards him.

“Yo- you’re different” Mumbling a reply, not wanting to see the other’s reaction he began to empty the last of his bag. In his peripheral vision he could see Viktor stare at him, he didn’t seem to be angry or annoyed by his answer, not pressing further he went back to the task at hand.

The silence continued between them _again,_  the tension easier to manage after they broke the ice, again. Yuuri collapsed on his bed, phone in hand scrolling through the social media he never contributed anything to. Looking at photos from Phichit’s Instagram, the most recent picture was of the two from first year, the description saying ‘Finally get to see Yuuri #cantdealwithseperation #thehamsmissu2’. Yuuri shook his head at the amount of crying and happy emojis that followed.

“I didn’t know you had Instagram” Yuuri looked up to see Viktor looking over in his direction, placing books down on the desk.

“I do, but I hardly use it. Phichit gets mad at me because I should post since I have an account, rather than stare at all the pictures people put up” Yuuri explained “He said I’m like that one person in the group chat who sees everything but says nothing.”

Yuuri was surprised by himself, he didn’t usually make any jokes around Viktor, but somehow he felt at ease and could say such things due to lighthearted mood.

Viktor chuckled, picking his phone up. “May I follow you?” Apprehensiveness crossed his features, looking unsure as if he should ask Yuuri the question or not.

“Why?” Yuuri presses.

“Because I might need to contact you or something I don’t know, we are roommates now, so please?” The Russian explained, Yuuri sat with his mouth agape, confused that Viktor would want to, given their awkward situation.

“Why not just ask for my number?” As soon as the words left his mouth he felt heat blossom across his cheeks, he looked away feeling embarrassed.

_I can almost hear Phichit telling me that was smooth as fuck._

Viktor didn’t say anything for a moment or so. “That would probably be better actually”

Yuuri sighed in relief, thankful that Viktor hadn’t chosen to make it uncomfortable. He gave Viktor his number as well as his Instagram name.

Viktor sent the other a text consisting of a smiley face emoji so that Yuuri could save his number.

 

“So, I’m guessing the same rules apply as before?” Yuuri questioned, looking at Viktor who was organising miscellaneous stuff on the desk.

Smirking Viktor turned more to face the other “Mmm, I suppose it does, but then again, despite our arguments before Summer, I do think it worked well for us both” He admitted, although the smirk remained, his tone didn’t ruffle Yuuri’s feathers, only making him realise that it had gone well.

“You’re right”

“Mmm”

Conversation was light, Yuuri was becoming used to the company of the other. Everything more easy going than it had been when they had first met.

 

  
Phichit leapt down the stairs almost killing Yuuri as he jumped down beside him.

“Yuuri, I missed you” He squeezed Yuuri, making the boy have to smack his friend’s arm to let him go so the air could return to his lungs.

“I missed you too… even though we skyped most of the time”

“Not the same Yuuri” Phichit huffed, bringing up his front camera and snapping a picture of the pair together.

“You’re going to tag that as ‘reunited’ aren’t you?” Yuuri laughed when Phichit gasped bringing a hand up to his mouth, exaggerating the action.

“How did you know?! And besides, it’ll be ‘reunited at last’’’ Phichit said, typing said words into the description box, before sharing the image. “There done.”

Yuuri watched the his friend become increasingly giddy at the likes streaming in.

“Hey Viktor liked the photo” He wiggled his eyebrows at Yuuri, knowing full well that he had been roomed with him again. “And Yuuri, you’ve followed each other, you only follow like 20 people, so maybe you get on with him more than you let on”

“He asked me for it and I thought it’d be rude if I didn’t follow him back” Yuuri explained, he knew that Phichit was hinting at something highly unlikely.

“You have each other’s numbers right though?” Phichit grinned.

“Yes” Yuuri admitted, not wanting to look the other in the eye.

“Yuuri, you stared at his practically naked body and I quote ‘for a solid minute’’’

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Yuuri raised his voice, only becoming quieter when people gave strange looks to the pair. “He’s I don’t know-”

“Beautiful?” Phichit offered.

“Well yeah” He admitted again. Not the word he was looking for but he couldn’t disagree.

“Maybe if you cut the hate and bitterness out you and him would make a good pair”

“Pfft, that won’t happen, we start classes next week and it’ll just go back to me getting mad whenever he beats me” He grumbled, Phichit gave him a soft smile.

“Well ignoring how you could be lowkey liking Viktor, but knowing you that thought has never crossed your mind, subconsciously you might, but you act how you did because he acted like that towards you. So anyway, if you continue how you are maybe, just maybe you’ll get along” Phichit grinned, his words causing havoc in Yuuri’s mind.

_What if I did like him?_

_No, I can’t._

_He’s beautiful yeah, but no no no , I don’t._

_We hate each other._

_Dislike probably now._

“He’s a great guy just saying” Phichit continued. To a degree Yuuri could say that he was nice, with how he had seen him act with others.

“Yeah, but sometimes he makes low moves” Yuuri considers the snapchat incident.

“Oh no, it’s the thing that happened with the video on snap wasn’t it?” Phichit bites his lip.

“You laughed too you idiot” Yuuri pushed Phichit who clung to Yuuri so he didn’t fall backwards into the fountain behind them both.

“It was funny at the time, but I can see why you’re still salty about it.. I’m sorry, do I have your forgiveness Yuuri?” Phichit asked, trying to act as sad as possible.

“No”

“Yuuri pleaseee, I’ll do anything! I’ll buy you food”

Yuuri gave the Thai a sideways glance, before considering it “Fine.”

Phichit grabbed Yuuri’s arm pulling towards the few takeaways a few streets away from the campus. “I wonder what Viktor would have to do to get your forgiveness.” Yuuri glared at him as the Thai once again wiggled his eyebrows at him.

“Phichit I’ll ignore your apology”

“Yuuri please no “

 

They stumbled into the takeaway, Phichit ordering them both burgers. Neither came here often knowing that if they did they would only gain weight from the amount of food that came with one meal. Both only went into the place if it was a celebration or for extreme comfort food.

Yuuri checked his phone occupying himself whilst the Thai spoke with some people from his Drama group, catching up after the Summer. Phichit was giddy around the other students who all shared their stories on where they had travelled to, the social butterfly seemed to be content and happy with everyone, so Yuuri was never bothered or envious in any way.

Phichit bid farewell to the others, grabbing his order and turning towards Yuuri.

“Here you g-” Stopping, Phichit stared at the man who had just entered. Yuuri noticed a slight blush dusting his friend’s cheeks, the colour growing in intensity as he greeted the dark eyed and haired man, who stared back at the other.

The man didn’t offer much of smile but Phichit didn’t seem bothered, his mood had somehow increased at the sight of him.

“I’ll see you back at the dorm” Phichit said cheerfully, he paused slightly for a reply, but all he got was a quiet ‘ok’ and a nod. Yuuri quickly followed Phichit, who practically ran out of the door.

“Who’s that?” Yuuri asked, biting into a chip.

Phichit blushed again, with his hurried pace Yuuri was finding it increasingly difficult to eat his food and keep up with his friend.

“He’s, my um, roommate” Phichit mumbled, sitting them both down at a bench.

“And?”

“And he’s studying something in Science”

“And?”

“He’s called Seung-gil, he doesn’t talk much and yeah I am sort of falling for him. I’m hoping at the fresher’s party on Friday, I’ll try and see what he’s really like” Phichit explained, putting way too many chips in his mouth at once. Yuuri laughed at him struggling to eat his food, becoming more flustered.

“So you’ve only just met him?” Yuuri asked.

“Not really, I met him a few times last year at some parties and study periods”

“And you’re only just telling me this now?”

“I told you many times, you were either half asleep or studying when I did, so it probably didn’t go in”

Yuuri nodded to that, whenever he was exhausted or working he didn’t concentrate much and continued to either study and become immersed in it or fall asleep.

“Anyway, speaking of that party, you are definitely coming, I know what you will do if you don’t.” He declared. Phichit knew that it was the one year anniversary since Vicchan’s death and all Yuuri will do if he wasn’t distracted is cry for hours on end. He didn’t want Yuuri to be upset, so dragging him to a social event would improve his mood.

“You know how I get when I’m drunk, I forget everything that happens and lose myself to the alcohol.” Yuuri could only remember small snippets of him being drunk, but usually all memories were of him dancing obscenely to the music. He shuddered.

“Still you are coming before the semester starts to relax a little.” The sentence was almost incomprehensible as he tried to speak through the food.

Yuuri knew he wouldn’t be able to get out of it, and he would have to go if only to support Phichit with Seung-gil.

They continued to eat their food, discussing their time away in person rather than online and Phichit’s growing fear about his hamster’s life spans. Phichit tried to get more out of Yuuri regarding Viktor but he chose to only reply with short answers not wanting to say anything if he himself was unsure with the whole situation with him.

He thought Viktor was nice, maybe not towards him before the summer, but his emotions towards Yuuri had only been what he could describe as playful, with no distaste present whatsoever. Smart, yes, he was on par or higher with Yuuri for the subject they studied.

He had relationships with others, but all it ever was was holding hands before they lost interest in him and Yuuri was left alone again, whilst all the people he came across were ‘dating’. Only a few knew of his preferences, he was bi, but seemed to prefer men more over women. Except from a few females, he got along much better with guys, he understood them more easily and felt that feeling was mutual.

Regarding relationships and intimacy, Yuuri felt as though he lacked, he had never kissed anyone, even though whenever he is drunk he usually ends up shamelessly grinding, but nobody had ever kissed him from that despite the pleasure.

If he was to ever date Viktor, he would probably feel as though he’d let the other down. He had heard how the female students and some males had spoken about him. The rumors which he had finally heard after being forced to room with him before Summer. How the other man had a fling in the previous year of university. But it was overlooked by his admirers. Most of the student body found him attractive, all thinking they have a chance with him because he was currently single. They found his ice skating to be beautiful, although Yuuri had never seen it in person, given the fact that he had laid his eyes on him at the onsen, it would be hard to dismiss that the man couldn’t perform elegantly.

He was positive that the dislike was mutual between them, still feeling on edge around him, the bitter feeling if he was to beat him again in the subject they both liked still lingered.

He wanted to prove himself.

Even though he had never met him, his name only slightly familiar, he still wanted to show he could do well and was a strong competitor. The feelings reminded him of how he wanted to do well at a ballet performance or competition, to show he could do it and he wasn’t weak.

He cringed at how he broke down in front of the other man when he had come second to him. Viktor that day was pleased with his result, teasing Yuuri about it when he had arrived back to their room.

Toying with his bottom lip, the thoughts of how if he had walked in, outright saying he didn’t deserve it, struck him. He had never read Viktor’s work, and was rather ignorant about it. So for Viktor to react such a way was because he was acting rude towards him. Yuuri knew that respect worked both ways and he had a feeling that was why him and Viktor clashed at the start, as soon as Viktor had opened the door and acted so cold to him he had to act in a similar manner so he didn’t come off as someone who was weak.

He knew that the emotions both presented after to each other were due to that one thing that had happened, well from Yuuri’s knowledge it was.

Yuuri had a feeling he was missing part of the puzzle, he didn’t exactly know what it was, but knew that Viktor had more information than he did. Appearing taken back when he had said he never met him until now.

Yuuri would ask, but he didn’t want to provoke the man and ruin the peace they had earlier in the day.

“You okay?” Phichit asked him, pulling him out his thoughts. He looked up to see the other boy cocking his head slightly, making sure Yuuri was alright.

“Yeah, I am, I think I’m gonna head back up though” He gave Phichit a reassuring smile, before disappearing towards the dorms.

 

The dorm room was quiet, it looked as though Viktor had left hours before, early evening light was streaming through the blinds giving the room a soft orange tinge. It was warm in the room, the closed window trapping the air and making it feel as though it was a cage.

Yuuri opened the window, the sounds of cars driving in the distance and students talking filled the air. He found the constant buzz outside comforting, helping him relax into his book. Throughout the Summer break he had done just this, as well as numerous trips to the dance studio and helping out with the onsen.

His eyes were slowly becoming heavy, the words on the page swimming as his eyes watered from the need to fall asleep. Usually he would fight against his body’s needs and stay awake to get things done. But as he would get his schedule on the weekend he didn’t have to battle with himself and could actually let himself relax until the term started.

For what felt like hours he dozed, before jumping awake when he heard the door close. Viktor gave him an apologetic smile, his hair the same colour it had been when he had stumbled across the man after their first heated argument. The orange rays were intense compared to the subtle lighting Yuuri had seen earlier.

“I’m sorry I woke you, I didn’t know you were sleeping” Viktor smiled lightly at him again, Yuuri could feel something within him stir, he didn’t want to admit to himself that the sincere smile caught his attention, he didn’t want to look away. It was a gentle look he had not seen Viktor wear yet.

Realising that he was staring he broke his gaze, averting his eyes.

“I was just resting my eyes, so you don’t have to be sorry” He returned the smile to Viktor, standing up to stretch out his body.

As soon as he stood up the rush of blood made him dizzy and disorientated. His head swam as he clutched onto the chair beside his bed trying to stable himself. Yuuri felt himself resting against something sturdy, a hand placed gently on his side holding him upright. He exhaled a sigh of relief, thankful that he didn’t pass out or fall on the floor but instead against something warm and safe. Only then did Yuuri’s mind clock that it was in fact Viktor and that the man had rushed forward when Yuuri was swaying unable to properly concentrate.

“Are you okay?” Viktor asked, the gentle look had returned, Yuuri stared up at his face, he could feel the heat on his cheeks as he did so, the reaction towards such a gesture caused his breathing to quicken, he nodded numbly, he was captivated by the intensity of his now deep blue eyes. His silver hair falling softly against his face, moving smoothly from the swift movement to Yuuri’s side.

Yuuri shook his head trying to clear his mind, he had never reacted towards the other like this before, as soon as Phichit had mentioned that he might think about it subconsciously, the thoughts plagued his mind and he wondered if he the dislike was a mask, hiding his true thoughts.

_It’s not a mask, I do dislike him._

_I do._

_He’s just being nice that’s all._

_Damn you Chulanont for twisting my thoughts._

He jumped out of Viktor’s hold, regaining his thoughts. He was flustered and embarrassed by being so mesmerised by the his attractive appearance and the way he securely kept Yuuri upright, not wanting him to fall.

“I’m fine, I just got up too fast, but I’m okay now” He said, Viktor slowly nodded putting more distance between them and letting Yuuri walk past to the bathroom.

He splashed cold water on his face, trying to think calmly.

_Oh god, I don’t even know what to think anymore._

Placing the blue rimmed glasses back onto his face he walked back out, wiping his face with a towel.

“I’m okay, don’t worry” Yuuri said trying to reassure Viktor, whose expression was unreadable.

 

The room was slowly getting darker, the sun disappearing below the horizon. They had not spoken much, Yuuri continued with his reading trying to forget the whole ordeal, however his mind persisted and distracted his concentration, his mind kept replaying the scene over and over. Viktor to the right of him appeared to not be phased by it and mindlessly browsed the internet on his laptop, ignoring the presence of Yuuri altogether.

Viktor had chosen not to question Yuuri further, his bout of dizziness had long since passed as had the moment.

Yuuri put his book down, the clock read 9pm, he didn’t care if it was early for his standards, he wanted to sleep and forget about the incident.

_Highly unlikely._

He sat up, not wanting a repeat of him almost falling over, before standing. Quickly he pulled his t-shirt over his head, before fumbling with his pyjama top trying to get it turned the correct way around. He tugged the shirt on, his glasses moving crookedly on his features. The jeans he wore weren’t exactly tight, but they were the sort of clothing that once you put it on it didn’t really want to come off. Yuuri deemed it to be a miracle when they actually came off his legs, sure they were turned inside out but his legs were free of the fabric cage.

Only then did he become self conscious.

He looked down at himself, his legs bare, completely forgetting that he usually dressed in the bathroom and never in front of the Viktor. He chastised himself for ignoring that he had to respect Viktor’s space. Hurriedly he pulled on the loose jogging bottoms, trying to push the embarrassment away.

But like with the situation before, it remained. He glanced over at the Russian, who in turn looked up at Yuuri’s face rather too quickly. Yuuri chewed the inside of his cheek nervously, the other stared at him for a few moments, until he rested his eyes on his computer screen again. Yuuri swore there was a tinge of pink dusting his features. He couldn’t exactly tell given the lighting.

Part of him encouraged this idea, wanting to fight against the side who dismissed it as a trick of the eye. In the space of a few hours his emotions towards Viktor had changed, it was almost as though he had met him again and the time they had roomed together months prior had never happened.

It was unexpected to say the least.

He didn’t know what this would spiral into. Before today he had been so used to the idea that Viktor had hated him but now that hate was becoming less evident and the caring side Yuuri had seen Viktor show with the likes of Yuri was more prominent.

His head was beginning to ache from all the conflicting emotions

He wanted to know what the man was thinking, he didn’t want to ask, he wanted Viktor to tell him but he knew that wasn’t going to happen either.

Moving back the duvet he climbed in, trying to forget the problems, willing his mind to shut off and focus on the low hum of Viktor’s laptop.

 

  
Friday

 

Mid afternoon, Yuuri heard a faint quick knocking on the door. Viktor had vanished early morning and with him he had taken his key. He doubted that it was him, and only would be if he lost it. Yuuri walked over, opening the door slowly.

“Yuuri!” Phichit exclaimed, clearly excited to see him even though he had only seen him yesterday and the day before. “Tonight is the party we have been waiting for. The party to introduce us to the university again and have week long hangovers. Are you ready Katsuki?”

“Not really” Yuuri had forgotten about the party. His heart sank a little at the thought of being drunk.

“Don’t be pessimistic, now come on, get some better clothes on, you always look good in a shirt so put one on. You gotta be ready to come eat with me, Guang Hong and Leo so you don’t get drunk immediately” Phichit looked through his wardrobe, before settling on the light grey shirt, throwing it at Yuuri who stood helpless in the room.

He buttoned it up quickly, his fingers touching the top button before Phichit put his hand up “You look too tight when you do the top two buttons, undo the other one, have a bit of neck on show. You didn’t hang around people much last year, this year you need to and you know it.”

Yuuri undid the buttons, raising his eyebrows at him “Are you already drunk or something?”

“Huh? No not yet, I’m just excited” Phichit grinned at him, his excitement clear on his features. His dark eyes twinkling.

“Seung-gil perhaps?” He asked, Phichit blushed at the question.

“No, no.. What gave you that idea?”

“You hardly ever act like this unless it’s something or someone you are interested in. The last time I saw you wearing those black chinos you were trying to get close with that guy Aaron or something, I can’t remember. You said and I quote ‘My ass looks good in these’, and how you regretted wearing them when we got home because you couldn’t get out them” Yuuri cringed as his mind brought up his struggle and embarrassment with his own jeans. He dismissed it swiftly, looking at the now ecstatic boy in front of him.

“I-i, why do you have to be right?” Phichit pouted, despite the supposedly sad expression the boy still looked as happy as ever.

Yuuri finished dressing, until Phichit plucked his glasses off the bridge of his nose. Placing the contact lense case in his hand instead.

“I hate wearing them and you know that”

“But you look damn good with them on and your hair pushed back. Yuuri today I am your stylist, please let me do my job” Phichit persisted.

“Fine fine” Yuuri walked off to the bathroom, putting his contacts in wasn’t much of a challenge, he stared at himself, not used to seeing his glasses missing from his face. Phichit gave him the gel and he proceeded to run his hands through his hair until was up to the Thai’s standards.

“There we go” Phichit was pleased with Yuuri’s appearance, but as soon as the look was complete, the Japanese barely had time to grab his phone and or wallet before he was pulled out of the room and towards a cheap restaurant. The place rang bells for Yuuri, he always heard someone in his previous English Literature class who was meeting at Abacus, despite many dining at the pizzeria that was one of his favourites, the small restaurant offered 3 course meals fairly cheaply, rather than a pizza just on its own.

Upon arrival, Yuuri could see Guang Hong and Leo sitting at one of the tables. He had spoken to Leo briefly and of course had been introduced through Phichit, who was now practically throwing him onto the chair.

Greetings were given and the story of Yuuri being attacked in his dorm room was brought up. Yuuri was on edge as the three spoke, he didn’t know what the party was going to be like and he didn’t want to disappoint Phichit. Then again he was only technically going for moral support as Phichit tried to woo Seung-gil. Even though Yuuri had met him two days ago, he had no idea how Phichit was going to manage that given how cold he acted towards him.

His friend didn’t seem to care how distant Seung-gil was and he only strived to get closer to him and break through that shell.

They ate slowly, not wanting to attend the party on a rough stomach. Yuuri chose a light alcoholic drink, his drunk self scared him slightly, always becoming too needy and clingy as well flirtatious. His drunk self was his opposite, he was never outgoing or confident whilst sober, but as soon as he lost himself to the drinks he was completely new guy.

As time passed, Abacus became full with students eager to attend the party. The first years looked out of place, only talking to a few people they had only just encountered.

The pre drinks session was beginning, people who had started to drink earlier were already nearing drunk whilst Yuuri on his fifth glass was coming across tipsy.

It cut the edge of the anxiety that was coursing through his veins.

“Come on Yuuri, we have to go now” Despite the alcohol Phichit had he seemed to be holding it well, becoming more confident and excited.

Yuuri followed the other three, and some people who had also decided they would head over as well. The atmosphere was electric, everybody was feeling the same anticipation as they neared the doors to where the party was held.

Walking in, Yuuri was thankful for Phichit saying he needed to wear his contacts. He knew that his glasses would have been long gone by the end of the night if he had kept wearing them. People were pressed closed together, dancing and swaying to the bass, a sheen of sweat lingered on the skins of those who chose to dance in the centre of the throng.

The strobe lights cast vivid shades of magentas and yellows alongside cooler tones of purples and blues. They illuminated everything across the dark room, flashing and flickering over features of pure ecstasy.

Glasses of liquid courage were everywhere, the eager students gripping onto them and sipping out of the colourful umbrella straws.

Phichit handed Yuuri a flute of champagne, the drink contrasted with the intense array the cocktails had, but Phichit knew Yuuri well enough that he preferred the crisp taste compared to the overwhelming sweetness of others.

He was pulled towards the outskirts of the cluster, the alcohol beginning to take more of an effect surrounded by the party. He had been trying to ignore many things throughout the day, one of them was that it had been a year since Vicchan had passed and part of him was willing to drown his sorrows, again.

Brief memories of him doing that last year lingered, he could only remember certain parts. He knew he had become entranced by someone, but the figure was a blur of brightly coloured lights bouncing off of their face. By the next morning he was on a train back out to his home, he had no recollection of what happened except he’d drunk so much he had the one of the worst hangovers ever.

“He’s here” Phichit’s cheerful tone brought him back to the present, he looked in the same direction as him to see Seung-gil standing with a carefree dark haired girl, she was speaking to him but he showed little interest in her actions. Yuuri didn’t know of her, but Phichit didn’t seem bothered by her being there.

“I’m gonna go and try, hold this” Phichit shoved his drink into Yuuri’s hand, whilst Yuuri stood stock still in surprise. By this point both Leo and Guang-Hong had disappeared into the crowd of people and Yuuri had feeling he wouldn’t see them much during the night.

Finding his way to the wall, he rested his head there, finishing his own drink he started to drink Phichit’s, the taste was intoxicating with a sour apple aftertaste. The boy might murder him later for doing so but he as of now he couldn’t care less.

The more he drunk and observed his friend trying his absolute hardest to seduce the other, the more free his mind was becoming, he couldn’t think much on thoughts that troubled him and found his woes slowly vanishing.

Much like his shy attitude.

Glasses later he found himself amongst the dancing crowd, with his ballet background his movements were graceful and moved to the beat of the music that shook through his body. Giving him a buzz and urge to continue.

Yuuri was getting hotter, his shirt clinging to his skin. He unbuttoned most, if not all, the buttons.

His shirt hung loose, his mind was spinning from the amount of alcohol he had consumed, the party around him was becoming hard to focus on.

“Are you alright mon chéri?” An hand landing on the small of Yuuri’s back, he looked up to see Chris, the hazel eyes filled with amusement as they observed the rather drunk Yuuri.

“-mfine” Yuuri’s speech was slurred, gripping onto Chris’ arm he let the Swiss man lead him to the side where he had a table.

Yuuri looked at the others who occupied the table. A student with short auburn hair gave Yuuri a caring smile, she leaned against the man who had been troubling Yuuri’s thoughts. The man who was always on his mind giving him mixed emotions.

Viktor appeared tense, his eyes were filled with flitting emotions, Yuuri noticed he was surprised and annoyed but soon his expression became unreadable. Yuuri couldn’t help but stare at the Russian in front of him, his drunk self was clingy and it wanted something, he could feel a strong sense of desire and tried to push it down so he wouldn’t make a fool of himself.

“Mila did you drink my drink, again?” Chris to left of him huffed out annoyed question, he was staring at the now laughing redhead.

“Sorry Chris, it was there, I didn’t know how long you’d be” Mila teased, playing with the straw of Chris’ empty glass.  
“Viktor you could have stopped her” He said to Viktor, who gave a half smile to the other, to Yuuri it was obvious he was still not used to the arrival of his roommate. This went unnoticed by the two who were now beginning to bicker.

Yuuri was still staring at Viktor, he didn’t know what he was feeling anymore.

After talking with Phichit, he was becoming more aware of his thoughts that were once hidden, now mingling with the others that made him want to dislike Viktor and have nothing to do with him.

Looking at the other man, he stared at the way his hair fell across one eye, the silver strands moving from the breeze that came from the open doors, being illuminated by purples and blues. His gaze travelled down his face to his neck and prominent collarbones visible from his open shirt. Yuuri flushed as his brain supplied him with thoughts of wanting to touch and caress such features of the man. He knew he couldn’t help such a reaction, his mind was lost and confused, not coping well with how Viktor acted towards him.

Bringing his eyes back to Viktor’s face, he had déjà vu of how he had stared at him at the onsen. His expression was amused and teasing, and fuelled the thoughts he had just had.

 

The party continued. Yuuri had a more liquid courage, he wasn’t fully drunk, he could still comprehend situations, but he felt himself become more needy.

He rested his bodyweight on Phichit, who managed his drinks better than Yuuri. The night was still young, only around midnight, Phichit knew if he left Yuuri in the place any longer the man would be completely out of it and angry for days on end.

Phichit was giddy from spending a lot of dealing with the very flirtatious drunk that was Seung-gil, promising Yuuri that he would tell him all about it tomorrow when they go get food to soothe their hungover selves.

He opened Yuuri’s dorm room door, carefully balancing the needy and clingy Japanese on his shoulder, muttering words about he wanted to still be dancing and drinking with people, occasionally laughing about something that happened earlier on. Phichit looked down at the boy who he hardly saw like this and even though he would regret drinking in the morning he liked to see him act free and have confidence rushing through him.

“Viktor, could you like, I don’t know, make sure he doesn’t die? Thanks” Yuuri could hear Phichit talking to the other who was back from the party much earlier than Yuuri had expected. He knew that he had disappeared sometime after Yuuri had arrived at the table with Chris.

I thought he was some party animal, given his popularity status usually they stay the longest.  
Yuuri felt Phichit hand him over to the taller. Viktor was definitely more muscular than the Thai. Yuuri pressed his fingers into the muscle of his chest trying to support himself. He was thankful he had him to rest on, he was comfortable and glad that he wasn’t left in the room on his own.

In the back of his mind he could hear his thoughts telling him to get off of him.

_I’m supposed to hate you._

But he couldn’t, not when he was warm and allowing Yuuri to rest his head against his shoulder.

“I’m sure you still do Yuuri” Viktor’s voice was low next to his ear, making him press his fingers harder into him. Annoyed at how he had stupidly voiced his thoughts.

“Good luck with that mess” Phichit laughed shutting the door behind him. It was quiet in the dorm room, the only sound that Yuuri could hear was the distant thrum of music outside and the soft, light breathing of the man he was clinging to. He could feel Viktor’s heart racing against his palms, he smoothed out the small creases in the material, moving his hands to rest comfortably higher up. Viktor exhaled slowly, the smell of alcohol still lingered, overpowering the scent he had only ever come across briefly, but knew it was one he secretly loved.

His more aware side was desperately trying to regain some control, but he ignored it, he pulled Viktor closer, tugging him against him by his arm. Viktor’s inhale was sharp, surprised by the sudden action. They had both come across similar situations before, where they were unbelievably close. Even sober Yuuri had pulled Viktor towards him.

_But that was out of hate._

_This is out of.. I don’t know._

He felt as though their positions were unbalanced with Yuuri clinging to him, he wanted that to change.

“Viktor hold me” He quietly pleaded.

“I am holding you Yuuri” The tone was soft and gentle, and only then did Yuuri begin to notice the slight pressure on his waist, Viktor’s hands holding him like they had done days before. Yuuri wanted to feel more of it, a harder grip over the lighter one.

“I want more” He pressed his fingers harder into him trying to make him realise.

Viktor complied, his hands more noticeable on his sides, his thumbs stroking circles. The action had moved them closer together, their bodies were pressed against each other. Yuuri sighed happily at it, moving his hand from where it rested on his shoulder to gently touch the collar bone he had admired earlier on in the night. From where he now rested his head in the crook of Viktor’s neck he applied feather light touches, feeling a shudder run through Viktor even with the simplest of movements.

The hands at his waist began to move slowly up and down,caressing his sides with care once again. Remembering what Yuuri had requested, Viktor squeezed Yuuri’s hip, the action had managed to catch Yuuri off guard and gasped into the side of Viktor’s neck. He allowed himself to cling to the Russian, digging his fingers into his shoulders as the ministrations continued.

Viktor released a breathy laugh, clearly pleased with the reaction that he had gotten out of him. Continuing, Yuuri’s gasps slowly became whimpers and only stirred them both on. Yuuri didn’t want the actions to stop, he needed more, he didn’t know what. Part of him hoped that given Viktor’s status, he would have more experience compared to Yuuri. He mumbled into Viktor’s neck, he knew that Viktor had not heard him properly when he stopped, and slowly leaned back so that him and Yuuri were looking at each other.

“Sorry, what was that Yuuri?” He whispered, squeezing Yuuri’s side.

“More, I need more” Viktor’s eyes widened at that, before his lips curled into a smile.

“You’re going to have to tell me what you mean by that” He teased. The teasing is what made Yuuri snap, no longer desiring the caresses. He moved his hands down Viktor’s chest, placing both on his hips. He leaned in towards the taller who looked at him with a curious expression.

“You know exactly what I mean” Their hips collided when Yuuri pressed his entire body against his. Viktor groaned, his look of surprise becoming half-lidded.

He gripped onto Viktor, his nails digging into his hips. Viktor clicked his tongue at that, but it only encouraged him. Rolling his hips he elicited a hiss from him, he rested his forehead on Yuuri’s biting his lip in order to quieten the noises that left his lips. After a few moments, Viktor recollected himself reciprocating the movement. Yuuri moaned quietly, feeling his cheeks flushed redder, his face become hotter. Viktor’s hands held him by the small of his back drawing him in closer towards him.

Yuuri tried his best to not groan so loudly with every roll of their hips, feeling a familiar tightness in his jeans, only urging him on. Gripping his hips, he increased the speed between them. Viktor gasped hotly, the lingering scents of alcohol still remained, making Yuuri become intoxicated, overwhelmed by their closeness, but no part of him wanted to move away from the dance the two were in.

Grinding down roughly against the other he could immediately tell that he was affected by their situation, his obvious erection pressed against Yuuri. Yuuri blushed, he didn’t expect that Viktor would have that reaction especially from his doing. He moaned at the thought of bringing him to this. He wanted to touch more of Viktor, he wanted to kiss him, to taste him. He hadn’t ever thought about kissing him until now, he looked glanced at the other man’s lips, parted, shaky exhales falling from them. Yuuri moved his hands up from his hips to his neck, Viktor looked up into Yuuri’s eyes, lust and want filled them, taking Yuuri’s breath away.

Their movements slowed slightly, as Yuuri saw how inviting Viktor’s lips looked. He leaned forward, pulling Viktor down to meet him, their lips locked heatedly, Viktor’s moan dying in his throat, his lips soft and wet against Yuuri’s. Viktor kissed back passionately, the kiss becoming quickly sloppy moments after it had begun. Yuuri was becoming overwhelmed, pleased that his first kiss was going well.

As soon as Yuuri thought that, Viktor pulled off of him quickly stepping away from their dance. His blue eyes wide, his expression shocked. He didn’t look at Yuuri, averting his gaze to the floor catching his breath, regaining his composure.

“Vi-” He started

“Don’t Yuuri” Viktor cut him off.

Viktor went into the bathroom coming out again with painkillers and a bottle of water. Putting them on Yuuri’s desk beside his bed.

Yuuri was confused, before the Summer, Yuuri was positive that Viktor hated him, if not hate, then disliked him. Yuuri couldn’t help but have some doubt, he had quickly reciprocated and had seemed to enjoy. He dared himself to ask whether he did hate him, looking up at Viktor, who still chose to not meet his eyes.

“Viktor, do you hate me?” The question echoed in the room, the same beat of the music could still be heard. Viktor froze, staring into Yuuri’s brown eyes, he opened his mouth before shutting it again. He hesitated a few times before answering the question.

“I.. erm” Viktor stumbled over his words, still unsure of what to say, before he laughed breathily, nervousness was evident, even with the confidence he was trying to put across. “I do.”

Yuuri’s blood ran cold at the answer, he knew it probably would have been that but he could feel part of him wish that he didn’t. He nodded numbly, before he could stop himself he asked another question, knowing he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else without finding out.

“Why?”

“Why?!” Viktor’s tone became colder, the irritation he had not seen in so clearly and aimed at him had returned after so long. “What do you mean why?” Running a shaky hand through his hair, he glared at Yuuri. “You know why.”  
Yuuri frowned, he could only remember annoying Viktor so much he had stormed off. Apart from that he had no idea.

“I don’t” Yuuri’s voice was quiet, the confident side he usually had when they argued vanished.

“I don’t get why you can’t remember” Viktor’s became quieter, as though the sentence hurt him to say, he knew more than Yuuri and Yuuri could see that he was unwilling to tell him. “Just, get some rest Yuuri.” He turned away from the other, grabbing his clothing and going into the bathroom to change. Yuuri stood, he was cold, his shirt buttoned incorrectly, hanging loosely over him. He didn’t know what to think, he wanted to press further but his body was aching and longing.

Climbing under the covers, not bothering to change out of his clothing he let sleep pull him under, knowing that even though he drunk a lot he would still be mulling everything over with a more sober, hungover mind tomorrow.

 

Waking up Yuuri felt his head throbbing, it hurt to open his eyes and adjust himself to the light streaming in through the window. Putting his hand on his desk he found the painkillers Viktor had left there the previous night.

_Viktor_

The heated moments between the two became clearer as though he was living it again. He felt his cheeks heat up at the memory. Only for his heart to ache upon remembering that Viktor confirmed that he hated him.

Fiddling with the packet he swallowed two of the tablets, cringing at the taste of the oxygenated water. Taking another sip he glanced over to Viktor's bed, the man was still asleep, his arms wrapped around his pillow, hugging it loosely, his silver hair splayed out onto it.

Yuuri didn’t know what to think, he found himself drawn to the other yet he found that couldn’t be.

He passed the other silently, not wanting to confront him just yet, disappearing into the bathroom with a bundle of clothes which didn’t reek with the stench of alcohol.

His eyes were puffy and red, still wearing the contacts that he had been made to wear last night. Taking them out, he cringed at the sight of his eyes, he definitely could come across Viktor if it looked like he had been crying all night.

Checking the time he saw that Phichit had sent him multiple texts telling him to meet him in the canteen area downstairs. He knew Phichit would demand details and what had happened between the two last night.

Viktor still slept when he was leaving, it was unusual for him to do so, since he was always up early before they left for the holidays.

 

“Have you been crying or something?” Phichit’s expression was a mixture of concern and wanting to laugh.

Yuuri scowled at him, sitting down in the chair opposite “I forgot to take my contacts out, since you made me wear them.”

“Well you did look better with them on just saying”

“I don’t need that right now” Yuuri couldn’t help his foul mood, what with the hangover combined with his muddled feelings.

“What happened Yuuri?” Phichit gave him a slice of toast, knowing that the food would comfort his problems. Yuuri told parts of what happened between him and Viktor last night, Phichit at the start of the story gave him a few eyebrow raises, but nearing the end he didn’t say much to it. Yuuri kept how Viktor had hesitated to himself, despite his friend knowing everything about him and his problems, he didn’t want encourage that small bit of hope. Phichit seemed to know that Yuuri was confused with his emotions, and only suggested that he carry on being his usual self.

“Sure, he might hate you or whatever. But hey, you started on a good note on Wednesday, you might as well just continue on that note instead so things are easier” He offered Yuuri a reassuring smile, before leaping into his tale of what happened between him and Seung-gil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was an adventure. 
> 
> Poor Yuuri doesn't even know what he feels anymore 
> 
> Thank you for reading and for the kudos/comments!
> 
> Stasiiya_ on tumblr and Insta

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was okay oml
> 
> Porosenok - Piggy (Google translate yo) 
> 
> Yeah, if they are out of character just tell me, I was a little skeptical about it. I just wanted the anger to be there. Anger turns to love goddammit. 
> 
> Edit: I've corrected a sentence, just make it read better ;_; 
> 
> Stasiiya on tumblr, you can discuss yoi with me, I'm down for that. (Same name on insta too js) 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I look forward to seeing your comments.


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